Home sales surge despite cooling measures
Business & Technology
Top business and technology news for March 14, 2017. Part of the daily The China Projectย news roundup "Killing the zombies."
- China homes sales surge 23 percent in first two months, defying curbsย / Bloomberg
China home sales rose 23 percent in January and February compared with the same period last year, reaching a total of 912 billion yuan ($132 billion) according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics today. Policy makers had pledged to curb property speculation last yearย and reiterated the need to do so during this yearโs Two Sessions, the annual political gathering in Beijing that ends this week. Guo Shuqingย ้ญๆ ๆธ , the new chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, saidย earlier that he will pay close attention to real estate bubbles after 45 percent of the nationโs new loans went to the property sector in 2016, with most going to personal mortgages. Many first- and second-tier cities introduced measures to cool property marketsย last year. For example, Beijing increased down payments for first-time home buyers from 30 percent to 35 percent. -
This millennial Chinese stock guru has banker parents, but wonโt touch bank stocksย / Bloomberg
Yu Baijing ไฟ็ฝ้ is a 32-year-old stock picker who co-manages a 189 million euro ($202 million) Greater China fund for Paris-based Comgest. Although she was raised by two generations of Chinese bankers, she told Bloombergย that she wonโt risk her clientsโ assets on shares of a Chinese lender because โlenders in China are often policy tools of the government with โblack boxโ balance sheets that provide little clarity on their exposure to non-performing debt.โ Yuโs fundโs top holdings as of February included China Life Insurance Co., the nationโs largest insurer, and the internet and gaming company NetEase.
