Zhongshan tightens grip on home prices

Authorities at Zhongshan in Guangdong have limited the reduction in registration prices for new homes to 5 percent once every three months.

Selling prices also have to be within a 15-percent range of the prices registered with government, according to an official notice this week.

Meanwhile, as much as 401.5 billion yuan (HK$469 billion) in land sales were recorded in 100 mainland cities last month - a 141-percent month-on-month growth but a 33-percent year-on-year drop, according to a report from a unit under E-House (China) Enterprise (2048).

This came as some Chinese developers released first-half business data.

China Vanke (2202) said its contracted sales for the six months plunged by 39 percent to 215.29 billion yuan, and areas involved were reduced by 41 percent to 12.9 million square meters.

Sunac China (1918) saw its interim contracted sales sink by 64.8 percent to 112.8 billion yuan, while sales in June alone dropped by 82.2 percent to 14 billion yuan.

And global creditors of Shimao Group (0813) are gearing up to organize themselves after the luxury builder defaulted on a US$1 billion (HK$7.78 billion) dollar bond that had been due on Sunday.