China’s Real Estate Woes Push Property Services Firm to Default on Dollar Bond

What’s new: Real estate services provider E-House (China) Enterprise Holdings Ltd. has defaulted on a $298 million U.S. dollar bond after getting caught up in the financial troubles of several property developers, it said in an exchange filing.

The default on the 7.625% bond, which was due Monday, triggered a cross-default on a $300 million note due in 2023.

Last year, E-House reported an 8.9 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) net loss attributable to shareholders, a reversal from a 304.4 million yuan net profit posted in 2020. The company set aside 6.7 billion yuan last year — up from 172.5 million yuan in 2020 — to help cover expected losses from the delayed payments of certain customers whose credit quality had deteriorated.