Wu Yajun, the billionaire cofounder of real estate developer Longfor Properties, added $1.1 billion to her net worth on Tuesday, a day after Beijing pledged more support for China’s troubled property sector. But some analysts are already warning optimism about this support might be overdone.
The 59-year-old female tycoon has a net worth of $8.8 billion on the Real-Time Billionaires List, derived mostly from her more than 40% stake in the Hong Kong-listed developer, though she stepped down as chair of the company last October. Longfor’s shares soared as much as 28% during the morning trading session on Tuesday, making it one of the best-performing real estate stocks after a policy readout on Monday, in which Chinese authorities announced the further relaxation of curbs on the country’s beleaguered property sector.
Although the top Politburo meeting didn’t announce large-scale stimulus measures that some investors had long hoped for, it concluded with general pledges to boost domestic consumption and adjust real estate-related policies to ensure “stable and healthy” market development. Investors appear to be excited by the removal of China’s President Xi Jinping’s key slogan, ‘houses are for living in, not for speculation,’ from the policy readout. First introduced in 2016, this principle kickstarted a multiyear crackdown on what was viewed as excessive leverage in the entire real estate sector.
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