China's property bonds offer good returns

Hong Kong

US DOLLAR bonds issued by China's developers are delivering five times the global average for debt denominated in the US currency as housing demand strengthens in the world's most populous nation.

Property securities, which account for 32 per cent of the Bank of America Merrill Lynch index of China's dollar bonds, have advanced 5.7 per cent since the end of June, after handing investors a 1.6 per cent loss in the first six months of this year. That compares with a 3.5 per cent average gain in overall Chinese notes in the greenback and 1.2 per cent for debt in the currency globally, according to BofA indexes.