Monetary tightening in China suggests that the best days of the current property market cycle are now over for local real estate developers. Major international investment groups such as Blackstone are selling rather than buying in the belief that prices and fundamentals have begun to diverge, according to people familiar with the market.
That perhaps explains the interest on the part of some mainland Chinese developers in the Indian market. At least five, including Dalian Wanda and Country Garden, Fosun, China Land and Fortune are in varying stages of commitment to ambitious projects there.
The property market has become the latest Indian sector to receive interest from its powerful neighbour to the east. Chinese manufactured goods are on sale everywhere. The innards of local mobile phones are almost entirely made in China, as are other products from air conditioners to white goods. Chinese technology companies are ramping up investments in Indian e-commerce and fintech start-ups in the belief that the know-how they have gained in other emerging markets will prove relevant in India.