China developers rush to refinance costly bonds

Hong Kong

CHINESE property developers, among the heaviest borrowers in the Asian high-yield sector, are scrabbling to take advantage of cheaper funding costs at home, after a foray into offshore debt markets that has become a growing headache.

Tighter conditions in China in the last few years pushed developers to increasingly borrow overseas, and they did so at record pace in 2013 and 2014 - despite a domestic real estate market that was already cooling. In 2015 though, they shifted to domestic markets, raising more than 200 billion yuan (S$43.5 billion) - four times greater than in overseas markets.