Chinese real estate investments face mounting debt concerns

Investors are now seeking to get repaid on their investments

Debt is a pressing concern for China (Credit: Pixabay)
Debt is a pressing concern for China (Credit: Pixabay)

As half-finished real estate projects span throughout parts of rural China, investors are seeking to collect on their debt payments.

Investors bought debt in areas outside the major Chinese cities are now growing worried about getting their money back amid a weakening economy and tighter regulations on bank lending, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Local governments in China along with more than 2,000 financing companies have trillions of dollars of debt that have now come due on these projects. And some of these local governments are having trouble coming up with the money, the Journal reported.

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In once instance, the Journal said the rural county of Sandu owes a projected two billion yuan ($297.6 million) in payments in 2019, almost three times the county’s annual revenue.

Overall, debt remains a pressing concern for the country. Official figures estimated the total of local and central government debt in 2017 was 29.95 trillion yuan ($4.457 trillion) — almost 36 percent of the entire economy. [WSJ] — Keith Larsen