Buyers abandon homes in China city as prices fall

[SHANGHAI] Falling property prices in China's eastern city of Wenzhou has triggered 6.4 billion yuan (S$1.3 billion) of bad loans as buyers abandoned homes and stopped making mortgage payments, the Economy & Nation Weekly reported.

Purchasers of 1,107 properties halted payments as prices dropped for 34 straight months, the Xinhua News Agency-affiliated magazine said earlier this week on its website, citing data from the local banking regulator.

A press officer at the Wenzhou branch of the China Banking Regulatory Commission declined to confirm the data.