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He bought a property in China. Nine years later, he got the key.

Sep 24, 2024
Chen Peng wanted a home to attract a wife. Condo projects fraught with financial and legal battles made him wait nearly a decade.
Chen Peng recently moved into a new condo in Zhengzhou city that lacked any amenities or finishing touches. Its bare-bones condition allowed him to afford the down payment, which he made almost a decade ago.
Charles Zhang/Marketplace

With Chinese developer Evergrande set to liquidate, impact may spread beyond investors

Jan 29, 2024
Unwinding the debt-burdened company will likely create large losses among creditors and could trigger some capital flight.
An Evergrande Group residential complex in Beijing. The company has $300 billion in total liabilities.
Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images

Inside Malaysia's $100 billion "ghost city"

Dec 14, 2023
In 2016, Country Garden unveiled a $100 billion project in Malaysia called Forest City. It was supposed to accommodate nearly 1 million people. Eight years on, the complex is virtually empty.
Forest City, a development in Malaysia that was supposed to house nearly 1 million people, now sits largely empty.
Mohd Rasfan/AFP via Getty Images

Many Chinese homebuyers are paying mortgages on homes they may never live in

Sep 14, 2022
With real estate firms in financial distress, thousands of people are left with unfinished condos. Some are trying to fight back.
Last year, musician Chen Peng took Marketplace to the development in Zhengzhou where he bought a two-bedroom condo. The development remains unfinished today.
Charles Zhang/Marketplace

Evergrande investors in China are worried but holding on

Oct 26, 2021
Evergrande is among the three biggest property developers in China and it seems to have the backing of the Chinese communist party.
Evergrande founder Xu Jiayin overlooking China's communist party 100th birthday celebrations on Beijing's Tiananmen square. This photo was widely circulated in China's business press and boosted the perception that Evergrande is too big to fail.
Screenshot of Sina

Evergrande crisis hits China's investors, homebuyers

Sep 23, 2021
The Chinese property giant Evergrande was known as a risky business operator, but for years investors didn't seem to care — until now.
Evergrande could manage its debt while real estate values climbed, but in many places sales have weakened and regulators have made it harder for developers to borrow.
Charles Zhang/Marketplace

Why is Evergrande shaking markets?

Sep 21, 2021
The Chinese property developer is "potentially representative of a much broader set of problems across China's real estate sector," one expert says.
Noel Celis/AFP via Getty Images

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