Assets Without Buyers Foreshadow More Pain for Chinese Builders

Unfinished apartment buildings at the construction site of China Evergrande Group's Health Valley development on the outskirts of Nanjing, Jiangsu province, on Oct. 22, 2021. Photo: Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) — When a bellwether Chinese property developer reportedly sought buyers for $12 billion of assets to repay debt this year, the move sparked hopes of a liquidity boost for the nation’s embattled real estate firms.

But since January, only about three of 34 assets listed by Shimao Group Holdings Ltd. — one of the biggest issuers of dollar bonds in the sector — have been sold, according to exchange filings.