By Bingyan Wang


Shares of Chinese property stocks soared in early trade on expectations that the financial pressure facing real-estate developers may be easing.

Among the gainers were Longfor Group Holdings Ltd. in Hong Kong and Gemdale Corp. in the mainland market, up midday as much as 25.2% and 10%, respectively.

The National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors said late Thursday that it has approved self-registration of Longfor to issue bonds valued at 20 billion yuan ($2.8 billion), and pointed out that many such private developers were eager to self-register to issue bonds.

China's real-estate sector has been under severe stress, as debt funding for many companies had nearly dried up because of defaults and operational inefficiencies. Also, Beijing's steps to tighten measures in an effort to prevent a property bubble have weighed on the sector as a whole.

Thursday's move by the association is part of a CNY250 billion bond-financing support program that it unveiled earlier this week.

"We will continue to increase support for bond financing for private enterprises, including private developers," it said.

The latest support shows signs that Beijing is trying to ease the liquidity stress for developers, and analysts expect that default risk will be falling in the coming months.

"Top private developers including Longfor and Country Garden are likely to benefit the most from the rebound," analysts from Jefferies said in a note.

Shares of Country Garden Holdings Co., China's largest developer, were up as much as 25.5% at HK$2.06. Shares are now at 24.1% higher. Other gainers include CIFI Holdings (Group) Co., up 30.56% at HK$0.94, and Gemdale, which rose by the daily limit of 10% to CNY9.69.


Write to Bingyan Wang at bingyan.wang@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

11-10-22 2352ET