Caution urged over buying property assets in mainland

A state-owned conglomerate warned of caution when acquiring mainland property assets, as they may involve a lot of hidden debt that will incur legal issues.

Everbright Grand China Assets (3699) yesterday said it will consider acquiring high-quality office and commercial projects but will carefully examine the opportunities, as there may be a lot of hidden debts behind the acquisition target after a market correction.

This came as China's new home prices in 70 major cities prices slipped 0.1 percent year-on-year, down for the first time since September 2015, according to Reuters calculations based on National Bureau of Statistics data released yesterday.

That compared with a 0.7 percent gain in April's figures compared to last year.

On a monthly basis, the average new-home prices in 70 major cities also dropped 0.1 percent, after a 0.2 percent decline in April.

Meanwhile, China's state planner said yesterday that it had approved 10 fixed-asset investments worth 121 billion yuan (HK$141.44 billion) in May, a more than six-fold jump from April, as policymakers seek to get economic growth back on track after a Covid-induced slump.

From January to May, the National Development and Reform Commission approved a total of 48 fixed-asset investment projects worth a total of 654.2 billion yuan, more than 80 percent of the 775.4 billion yuan for projects in infrastructure, power, mining, water and manufacturing approved for the whole of 2021.