China rental push spurs new breed of property bonds

Hong Kong

CHINA'S push to develop the rental housing sector is offering cash-strapped property developers a way back to the onshore bond market after more than a year of issuance restrictions aimed at cooling down property prices.

Longfor Chongqing Enterprise Development, a domestic subsidiary of Hong Kong-listed Longfor Properties, last week filed a plan with the Shanghai Stock Exchange to issue special rental housing bonds, with proceeds exclusively pledged to rental projects.

The application is the first of this type of bonds since China launched a pilot programme in August to build rental housing projects in 13 major cities, including Be…