Moody’s cuts China property sector’s outlook to negative

(Reuters) – Moody’s on Thursday cut China’s crisis-hit property sector’s outlook to negative from stable, citing economic growth challenges the ratings agency said would dampen sales despite government support.

Moody’s said it expected contracted sales to fall by about 5% over the next six to 12 months in China, and the impact of government measures to boost property purchases was likely to be short-lived and uneven.

The outlook downgrade comes amid a string of debt defaults by cash-squeezed…