Shanghai bourse said to mull tightening property bond sale rules

[SHANGHAI] The Shanghai Stock Exchange in China is considering raising the threshold for property developers to sell exchange-traded notes, according to people familiar with the matter.

Under the rules being considered, the exchange would only accept note-offering applications from developers rated AA or higher, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the details haven't been announced.

The firms would also need to meet at least one of the following requirements: be listed either onshore or offshore; be owned by a province, a provincial capital, some major city or the central government; or be among the top 100 builders ranked by the China Real Estate Association.

The rules would add to financing hurdles for developers after major cities unveiled curbs on speculative home buying following the government's pledge to limit asset bubbles.

Chinese real estate firms have sold 421 billion yuan (S$85.66 billion) of onshore bonds so far this year, exceeding the 397 billion yuan for all of last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

There were no other special rules for property bond sales before the current ones being considered, the people said.

The new rules still haven't been finalised, they said.

The Shanghai exchange didn't immediately respond to questions sent by Bloomberg via fax.

Builders can't sell onshore bonds until they get approval from regulators.

BLOOMBERG