Navigating China's regulatory storm by balancing growth and risks

CHINA'S property sector has taken a heavy beating as Beijing continues its deleveraging campaign, but Chinese property developer Yanlord Land Group is navigating the regulatory storm by balancing its growth plans and debt appetite, emerging among the more resilient in the sector.

In an exclusive interview with The Business Times, Zhong Sheng-Jian, 63, founder, chairman and chief executive officer of the Singapore-listed Chinese developer shared how Yanlord has avoided the nightmare facing rival developers which are struggling to find money to make debt payments. Official data shows that China's property slump has deepened, with new home prices seeing their biggest month-on-month drop since 2015.

Speaking in Mandarin, the native of Lufeng, Guangdong province, said China's residential property sector has been developing rapidly for the past 23 years. This has spurred rapid urbanisation at a faster pace compared to other developed countries. During this period, property developers and entrepreneurs adopted vastly different development strategies.