As Private Property Developers Retreat, State Firms Advance

As private real estate developers struggle under the weight of an ongoing liquidity crunch, state-owned firms are selling more homes and finding it easy to get credit, data and company reports show.

The phenomenon may reflect homebuyers and lenders’ confidence in companies they see as being implicitly backstopped by the government, as high-profile private developers struggle to pay back their debts and complete their ongoing projects — which have often been sold before being finished.