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"A great challenge of life: Knowing enough to think you're doing it right, but not enough to know you're doing it wrong."

This is probably out of date as of now. "Tools like the “white list” should be carefully expanded to boost financing for struggling developers and tamp down wider market risks, the country’s Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and National Financial Regulatory Administration said at a joint video conference in late September." This was done at the end of last month, before the whole market rally. "According to an official readout from the conference released on Wednesday, the two bodies called for “strengthening the oversight of white list projects, the restoration of problem projects and increasing the issuance of loans to meet the reasonable financing needs of real estate developments.” And announced yesterday. I am guessing 2 weeks after the event. And I think the world has changed. The original white list has not helped much. Banks are reluctant to lend to insolvent entities (ie. projects that have almost sold all their houses, biut not completed because the developer took the monies [with abetment from the local govt overseeing the escrow] to buy land auctions (from the local govt); any injections now would not recoup any money because ALL the monies are spent - and what is left to be the collateral?) or iffy projects (i.e. projects that are near completion but have still unsold homes IN THIS MARKET - at least the collateral can be the unsold homes; but banks are not in the property business.) Here is the only way that banks will lend to developers on the white list: that the Chinese govt give the banks the same level of assurance that the US govt gave JP Morgan to take over Bear Stearns assets - for the risks involved, we guarantee to make full of the losses. So here is where the tardiness of the regulators is coming to bite them in their ass, not all the projects of the white listed developers are viable - and they had not bothered/succeeded in doing triage on what projects are unviable and needed to be unwound. And this means that if they GUARANTEE all the losses, the banks will not undertake due diligence - because if they did, none of them will pass. Reminds me of the joke that the teacher announced he graded the class on a curve and someone said that means half of us failed. He replied dun blame me, if I graded you on a straight grade - all of you would have failed.

China expands project ‘white list’ to ease blues in property market

China expands project ‘white list’ to ease blues in property market

scmp.com

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