Chinese Local Governments, SOEs Buy Housing in Latest Salve for Embattled Property Market

Some local governments and state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in China are buying unsold apartments, in a bid to ease the ongoing cash crunch plaguing the country’s property market.

A district natural resources and planning bureau in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, bought 200 residential units from a local developer earlier this year, according to an agreement published on the provincial government’s procurement portal. The purchase was seen as a bailout for the cash-strapped builder, Wuhan Aoshan Shengda Real Estate Co. Ltd.