The pressure is slowly loosening around Evergrande. In September, the Chinese real estate giant was on the verge of bankruptcy, however, after two interest payments on non-honored dollar bonds. The market had panicked, especially as several sites of the group were at a standstill due to lack of liquidity. Dozens of injured owners, not having received delivery of their apartment, then demonstrated in front of the group’s headquarters in Shenzhen.
The group had finally paid the 131 million dollars due, before restarting its sites. Another positive announcement came this morning. “Between July and October, Evergrande delivered 546 lots from 184 real estate projects to 57,462 owners,” the developer said in a press release. The document does not specify whether this is only housing or whether the figure also includes commercial property.
The Hong Kong Stock Exchange, where the group is listed, reacted well, with Evergrande shares up 4.7%. But the group is still dragging a slate estimated at 260 billion euros, symptom of a seized Chinese real estate market. New housing prices are thus down in the country for the first time in six years, in a context of mistrust of buyers facing the risk of bankruptcy of several developers. Evergrande was only the immense oak tree which hides the forest.