China property funding dries up as trusts exit

Shanghai

CHINA'S investment trusts are pulling financing for the real estate industry as Kaisa Group Holdings Ltd's missed payments heighten default concerns.

Issuance of property-related products, which channel money from wealthy individual investors, tumbled 62 per cent from a year earlier to 38.5 billion yuan (S$8.3 billion) in the fourth quarter, data compiled by research firm Use Trust show. Builders must repay 241 billion yuan of trusts in 2015, up from 178 billion yuan last year. Kaisa, which missed a bond coupon payment this month, failed to repay a 2.5 billion yuan trust last week, people familiar with the matter said.