Chinese officials have begun privately applauding the financing problems being experienced by the country’s bloated property sector. They hope this will let off steam and help prevent a dramatic bursting of a property bubble.

　　中國官員已私下開始為臃腫的國內房地產業所遭遇的融資困難叫好。他們希望這將起到釜底抽薪的作用，幫助防止地產行業出現戲劇性的泡沫破裂。

　　Investors have reacted with alarm to signs that Chinese developers are struggling to fund their operations – fearing it could presage a collapse of the sector.

　　有跡象顯示，中國房地產開發商在獲得經營所需的資金方面正遭遇困難，對此投資者在震驚之下作出反應，擔心這種情況可能預示著該行業的崩盤。

　　This would have repercussions for the whole Chinese economy and hit one of the last remaining sources of growth for the stuttering global market.

　　那將對整個中國經濟產生沖擊波，使動蕩不安的全球市場中僅存的增長源泉之一受到打擊。

　　Two officials and a senior banker told the Financial Times that tightening measures over the past year had been aimed at choking off credit flows to poorly managed developers in China’s unruly housing market. They said it was a good thing these policies were now hitting their mark.

　　兩位官員和一名高層銀行家對英國《金融時報》表示，過去一年出臺的各項收緊措施，目的就是要切斷難以駕馭的中國樓市中管理不善的開發商的信貸流。他們表示，這些政策現在產生預期效果是一件好事。

　　Shares of Chinese property developers plunged last week after reports that the banking regulator had asked trust companies, which are important providers of financing in the sector, to examine risks in their lending to Greentown, a large builder in eastern China.

　　上周，中國地產開發商的股票出現暴跌，此前有報道稱，中國銀監會(CBRC)已責令信托公司評估其向華東大型建筑商綠城(Greentown)放貸的風險。信托公司目前是中國房產開發行業的重要融資來源。

　　With property transactions slowing dramatically and prices starting to fall, some investors think it is only a matter of time before Beijing backs down and re-opens credit channels for developers. But the officials said such a volte-face was unlikely.

　　在樓市成交量大幅放緩、價格開始下跌的情況下，一些投資者認為，北京方面改弦更張、重新開啟開發商的信貸渠道只是時間早晚的問題。但上述官員表示，這樣的政策“轉身”不太可能發生。

　　“There are some developers who are facing funding pressure or have even been cut off. This is something we are happy to see,” one said.

　　“目前有一些開發商面臨資金壓力，甚至已被切斷信貸。這是我們樂于見到的情況，”其中一名官員表示。

　　Developers were like “dragons and fish jumbled together”, he said, referring to a mixture of high and low-quality companies. A consolidation process was “very necessary”.

　　他表示，開發商“魚龍混雜”（即優質和劣質企業都有）。某種整合過程“非常必要”。

　　A second official estimated that there were 50,000 property companies in China and that it was important for the market to work out the “survival of the fittest”.

　　另一位官員估計，目前中國有5萬家房產企業，有必要讓市場力量發揮作用，起到“適者生存”的效果。

　　Many property developers in China are small and privately owned. These are the most likely to go out of business first, allowing large state-controlled competitors to grab a bigger share of the market.

　　中國有許多房產開發商是小型和私有企業。此類企業最有可能率先破產，讓政府控制的大型競爭對手占據更大的市場份額。

　　“Our concern is that we don’t want to see anything systemic. If a couple of real estate companies fail because of bad management practices, then they should fail,” said the official. “The banks who lent to them should be punished through higher non-performing loans. As long as that doesn’t become a big systemic crisis, that’s fine.”

　　“我們關注的問題是，我們不想看到任何系統性的情況。如果個把房地產公司因為管理不善而倒閉，那么它們應當倒閉，”這名官員表示。“向這些公司放貸的銀行，應當收到不良貸款上升的懲罰。只要沒有釀成一場大規模的系統性危機，就沒有問題。”

　　Chinese housing prices soared from late 2008 to 2010, prompting concerns that a property bubble could trip up the fast-growing economy. The government has addressed these risks over the past year by raising mandatory mortgage downpayments and also ordering banks to lend less to developers.

　　從2008年末至2010年，中國樓價出現飆升，引發了人們的擔憂：樓市泡沫可能絆倒快速增長的整體經濟。過去一年間，政府采取措施應對這方面的風險，提高抵押貸款首付要求，并責令銀行減少對開發商放貸。

　　To plug the lending gap, many property companies turned to trusts, which operate in a grey area in the Chinese financial system, but officials are now also closing off this funding avenue.

　　為彌補資金缺口，許多房地產企業轉向活躍于中國金融體系灰色區域的信托公司，但官員們目前也在切斷這一融資渠道。

　　An executive with a medium-sized state-owned bank said he saw no evidence of any relaxation in the clampdown. He thought the government wanted to see a process of “the big eating the small” in the property sector.

　　某家中等規模國有銀行的一名高管稱，他看不到任何證據顯示收緊措施將會放松。他認為，政府希望看到房地產行業出現一個“大吃小”的過程。

　　There have been no big acquisitions of developers in the Chinese property market, but some consolidation has begun to occur as larger companies with more stable funding have expanded, while smaller players have struggled.

　　中國房產市場迄今沒有大宗的開發商收購交易，但某種程度的整合已開始出現，擁有更穩定資金來源的較大型企業已經擴張，而規模較小的企業則步履維艱。

　　China’s biggest listed developers increased their nationwide market share from 9 percent to to 12 percent last year, a trend that has continued this year, according to Macquarie Securities.

　　根據麥格理證券(Macquarie Securities)的數據，中國最大幾家上市開發商的全國市場份額去年從9%增至12%，這一趨勢在今年仍在延續。