New housing prices in China are at their lowest level since 2015

China’s housing recession has worsened, according to government data, with new home prices falling at their fastest pace since 2015.

In comparison to a year ago, new construction starts declined 7.7% from January to October. The country’s property market has been rattled in recent months as Evergrande, the country’s largest real estate developer, struggles to make interest payments on its massive debts.

A new wave of COVID cases, as well as massive power outages, have hit China.

In China, new home prices fell by 0.2 percent in October, the largest drop since February 2015.It’s also the first time new home prices have dropped since March 2015.

The property market in China, which accounts for almost a quarter of the country’s economic activity by some estimates, has been rocked by massive debts owed by big property developers.

The business has been under close examination as concerns about the future of companies such as Evergrande, the world’s largest real estate developer, have grown.

Evergrande, which owes over $300 billion (£223 billion) in debt, avoided defaulting on $148 million in missed interest payments last week. It sold a 5.7 percent stake in media behemoth HengTen Networks Group for approximately $145 million just days before a 30-day payment grace period was set to expire.

Fantasia’s stock dropped 50% last week after the company warned it couldn’t guarantee it would be able to meet its other financial obligations after missing a $205.7 million payment in October.

Trading in Kaisa Group and three of its subsidiaries was blocked earlier this month in Hong Kong after one of its firms failed to make a payment on a wealth management product.

The Chinese property titans’ debt crisis has alarmed some overseas investors, who fear that it will have a significant influence on global financial markets. In recent weeks, though, a number of high-profile personalities have taken steps to assuage such anxieties.

Haruhiko Kuroda, the governor of the Bank of Japan, said on Monday that he did not expect China’s property difficulties to cause a worldwide shock because the amount of money due to creditors outside the nation was relatively small.