Why China won’t ban housing presales outright

Late August marked something of a watershed moment for China’s embattled property sector, now in its sixth year of decline. It began with Chinese courts kicking off proceedings to liquidate the onshore business of China Evergrande Group – the collapsed property giant that came to epitomise China’s property debt bubble – and sentencing its founder Hui Ka-yan to life imprisonment over financial crimes. An unusually coordinated series of official announcements followed in days. The central bank,...