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A year ago, the huge real estate company in China, Evergrande, went bankrupt, but the government refused to let the company declare bankruptcy. The company defaulted to foreign investors but it was always doubtful if Chinese citizens would ever get the houses that they had bought ahead of their construction. Evergrande long ago lost the money on dubious investments, rather than using the money to build the houses that the people had paid for in advance.
The US ratings agencies went along with this duplicity and only lowered Evergrande’s credit rating to a “partial default.” They are just as dishonest as they were in 2008 before the Lehman Brothers collapse.
The situation has gotten progressively worse, of course, because banks are now nearing default, and they are refusing to let people take out their money.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/14/economy/china-property-crisis-homebuyers-bad-debt-intl-hnk/index.html
Hong Kong (CNN Business) China's real estate crisis is escalating, raising concerns about growing risks in the banking system.
Desperate homebuyers across dozens of cities are refusing to pay mortgages on unfinished homes, according to state media reports and economists at international banks.
In China, real estate firms are allowed to sell homes before completing them, and customers have to start repaying mortgages before they are in possession of the new property. These funds are used to finance construction by the developers.
The payment boycott comes as a growing number of projects have been delayed or stalled by a cash crunch that saw giant developer Evergrande default on its debt last year and several other companies seek protection from creditors. Home prices are also falling, meaning buyers may be locked into a property that is now worth less than they agreed to pay.
The result is that now a growing number of people holding mortgages are refusing to pay on those mortgages. There is no point in paying on a mortgage where the house may never be built. Such is the situation where people buy homes that are not yet built.
On July 22, 2022, Evergrande’s CEO and the CFO were both forced to resign.
China Evergrande Group’s Chief Executive Officer Xia Haijun was forced to resign as the embattled property developer tries to strike a restructuring deal to resolve $300 billion of liabilities that have roiled the nation’s real estate market.
Siu Shawn, an executive director at the company, will take over, according to a statement Friday, which added that Chief Financial Officer Pan Darong was also forced to resign.
Given that these resignations occurred on the prophetic type of the 8th day of Tabernacles (7/22) suggests that this is a very important event that should be watched. It comes on the heels of the resignation of Prime Minister Draghi in Italy (7/21), which could also have a cascading effect in Europe.