China’s real estate sector is in crisis. In an effort to curb excessive borrowing by property developers and control runaway real estate price increases, the Chinese government began to crack down on developer debt in 2020. The market then suffered a downturn in 2021 due to the increased financial restrictions, while commercial sales and investment growth slowed. Several of the nation’s major real estate developers are now facing a liquidity crisis that may see some default on debt repayments, which would send shock waves through the wider economy during an already challenging pandemic. For the global smart building sector, the fate of the world’s biggest supplier and its biggest potential market hangs in the balance. The tension in the market rose in September 2021 as real estate giant Evergrande defaulted on a debt repayment and warned of more liquidity problems. Evergrande was then revealed as China’s most indebted developer, holding some $300 billion in liabilities, and the government […]