HONG KONG (Aug 3): China Vanke Co has proposed to sell as much as 8 billion yuan (US$1.18 billion) of new bonds, in the latest sign that stronger developers in the country’s crisis-ridden property industry remain able to capitalize on cheap domestic funding.

The nation’s second-largest property firm by contracted sales plans to issue the new debt with tenors of as long as 10 years, according to a prospectus filed to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. The proposal puts Vanke on track to surpass state-run Poly Developments and Holdings Group Co as the top local bond issuer among developers this year.

Vanke’s new issuance programme highlights a growing divide in funding access between mostly state-backed developers and their distressed private peers. Builders, mostly state-backed, enjoyed the lowest onshore borrowing costs in 12 years last month, while the latter have been virtually shut out of the market.

Financial health of stronger players like Vanke is key to Beijing’s efforts to cushion pressures from the sector’s cash crunch and stabilize a housing market mired in slumping sales and mortgage boycotts.