Total assets of Evergrande Group 2011-2022

As of December 2022, the value of total assets of the Chinese real estate developer Evergrande dropped to around 1.84 trillion yuan. Between 2015 and 2020, the enterprise’s assets grew significantly, almost tripling within a five year period.

Missed bond payments

In late September 2021, Evergrande missed a payment of a U.S. dollar-denominated offshore bond which put the spotlight on the company’s dire financial situation. Evergrande Group has amassed more than 2.5 trillion yuan of debt which was around two percent of China’s GDP. Real estate has been an important sector of the county’s economy and a systemic crisis would seriously impact economic development.

Ripple effect

The news of the financial predicament that one of China’s largest property developers has found itself in sent ripples through the real estate industry. For many years, the property sector was booming and the demand for housing was high. This allowed property developers to get away with speculative investments. Since the sector constitutes a significant share of the economy, the Chinese government implemented regulations to put a limit on enterprises’ reliance on debt financing.