Fresh woe for China’s property sector: mortgage boycotts

still paying the mortgage on the flat he bought in northern Shanghai last year—for now. The property’s developer, Kaisa Group, began construction on the site in July 2021 but halted work just three months later, presumably because it could no longer pay for labour and supplies. Mr Peng’s new home, which was scheduled for delivery in September next year, has become a —one of thousands of housing projects sitting unfinished and abandoned.This has been a common phenomenon for years. But for the first time ever people across China are halting mortgage payments on such homes in protest. Buyers have stopped payments on at least 319 projects in 93 cities, according to documents that have been collected by volunteers and published online.