As many as a dozen mainland property developers, emboldened by a recovery in the nation's property markets, are eager to raise billions of dollars by going public in Hong Kong, even as Beijing warns of a possible bubble in the housing market. Guangzhou's Evergrande Real Estate plans to raise as much as US$1 billion through a Hong Kong initial public offering by the end of the year, and had recently taken potential investors on tours of its building sites in Guangzhou, Chongqing and Wuhan, bankers and fund managers close to the deal said. Shanghai's Glorious Property Holdings and Shenzhen's Fantasia Group were also planning major Hong Kong IPOs, investment bankers familiar with the plans said. Glorious, which owns land along the upscale Bund in Shanghai, hopes to raise US$1 billion, while Fantasia aims to raise about US$500 million to develop mid-to-high-end residential and commercial projects in the Pearl River Delta region. The three listing hopefuls, and others lining up behind them, have been encouraged by the huge run-up in the Hong Kong stock market - which has risen more than 60 per cent since March - and signs the mainland property market is recovering. So far this year, housing prices in major cities such as Shanghai and Beijing have risen 20 per cent to 30 per cent, property agents say. But the sharp rebound in the mainland property market already is ringing alarm bells. A Xinhua commentary at the weekend said 'the ferocious surge in the home market defied the sensible big picture' and questioned the legitimacy of the latest boom. The central government's mouthpiece blamed developers for deliberately choking off the housing supply by hoarding finished projects instead of releasing them to the market. It also highlighted the 'important role' played by speculative investors and blamed banks for slack enforcement of restrictions on lending to second-time home buyers. Xinhua also accused some low-level governments of artificially pushing up prices, saying they were effectively subsidising developers by ordering state-owned enterprises to buy apartments en masse. Provincial governments on the mainland rely heavily on land sales to developers and real estate-related taxes for their fiscal revenues and are believed to have turned a blind eye to irregularities that create an artificial boom. 'The government has started to send out warning messages to developers, banks, buyers and investors,' said Michael Wu, a director in the Asia-Pacific corporate division of Fitch Ratings. 'It will not be surprising to see Beijing impose appropriate measures to deflate the bubble when it has achieved its 8 per cent economic growth later the year.' This could prompt a 10 per cent to 25 per cent correction in mainland property markets in the fourth quarter or early next year, he said. But he added: 'No doubt now is the best timing for the listing candidates ... to raise funds, as property prices rise. If the market undergoes a correction later, these mainland property firms may be welcomed since they can buy cheaper land after building up their war chests.' Evergrande's IPO bid is its second in as many years. It aborted a US$2.1 billion effort in March last year after a sudden crash in the mainland property market. Glorious shelved an IPO planned for June last year due to unfavourable valuations and weak investor appetite.
