Flood of discounted auction homes deepens China’s property slump
Many families now face job losses, lost homes and crushing debt, all within a single punishing housing crisis
China’s residential property prices kept falling this year as a surge in court-ordered auction homes flooded the market with steep discounts, deepening buyer wariness and stalling any signs of recovery in the world’s second-largest economy.
Data from China Index Academy, a real estate research institute, showed the number of properties listed for court-ordered auction across 355 Chinese cities reached 539,000 in the first seven months of the year, up 23.7% from a year earlier.
The flood of discounted properties has depressed auction prices, which fell 9% year-on-year over the same period, as courts and asset managers rushed to offload homes seized from defaulting borrowers.
Media reports said only about one-third of the listed auction homes have found buyers, selling at prices roughly 30% below comparable properties in the secondary market overall. The discount was far steeper in second- and third-tier cities, where a small portion of auctioned homes changed hands at 50% to 60% below secondary-market levels while most others saw no bidders.
The steep discounts have cast a psychological shadow over the wider market, reinforcing a belief among prospective buyers that prices have farther to fall before hitting bottom.
With so much inventory to choose from, buyers are now cherry-picking properties they believe could be resold easily, rather than settling for a discount alone. Demand has concentrated on well-located units in top-tier cities with strong transport links and good schools, leaving remote, aging or rural properties largely untouched.
“Transactions of court-auctioned homes rose 42.7% year-on-year in the first seven months of 2026, which looks impressive,” says Jiang Xiaorong, a Shaanxi-based columnist. “But this looks more like sellers using price cuts to clear a growing backlog, not buyers suddenly turning bullish on housing again.”
“For ordinary secondary-home owners, the real pain usually is not that statistics show prices down a few percentage points,” Jiang says. “It’s that they want to sell but simply cannot, especially for families trying to upgrade to better homes.”
She gives the example of one such upgrading family in need of a 3 million yuan (US$420,000) down payment for a new apartment, but their old home, valued at 2.5 million yuan, has sat unsold for three months despite two price cuts to 2.2 million yuan, leaving them unable to raise enough money before the transaction deadline.
She adds that some families turn to consumer loans or dip into savings meant for elderly care and education, while others just keep cutting prices to force sale. For these families, she says liquidity matters more than paper value, and court-auction data shows an asset is only worth what it can quickly fetch in cash.
“As of April 2026, 8 million people nationwide were officially listed as loan defaulters after they missed mortgage payments,” says a columnist who writes under the pen name Property Observer. “About 60% of these mortgage defaulters are under the age of 35.”
“In one case, a person bought an apartment for 3.48 million yuan with a 2.8 million yuan mortgage,” he says. “A few years later, the property’s value fell to 1.2 million yuan, but the buyer has to keep paying the mortgage. If he stops paying, his home will be auctioned while he will bear a huge debt.”
The columnist says about 45% of families who stopped paying their mortgages had lost their jobs, as industries once seen as safe bets, including catering, real estate and private tutoring, cut staff in recent years. He says giving up a home is rarely a choice – it’s a last resort.
A two-speed secondary market
Home prices in the secondary market in China’s first-tier cities fell 3.7% year-on-year in July, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Guangzhou posted the steepest drop among the four top-tier cities at 4.7%, followed by Beijing at 4.5% and Shenzhen at 3.6%, while Shanghai fared best with a 2% decline.
Second-tier cities fared worse, with home prices in the second-hand market down 5.1% year-on-year, while third-tier cities posted the steepest declines at 5.8%.
Chinese commentators say the gap illustrates why liquidity, not price alone, defines China’s secondary housing market. They say top-tier cities are cooling more slowly, as buyers still see enough scarcity and demand to step in, while smaller cities are facing years of oversupply, leaving sellers with far less room to negotiate.
“The secondary market has a shortage of good-quality listings, so some newer homes in good school districts or prime locations can still hold their value,” said Yan Yuejin, deputy director of the Shanghai-based E-house Real Estate Research Institute. “But, overall, sellers in most cities are still cutting prices just to keep transactions moving, and further price adjustments are needed to draw buyers back in.”
Clearance rates in the auction home market, the share of listed properties that actually sell, also show how demand differs sharply across city tiers.
Nationwide, 245,000 residential properties were listed for court auction in the first seven months of 2026, and 89,000 of them found buyers – a clearance rate of 36.2%.
Clearance rates were far higher in top-tier and strong second-tier cities. Ningbo led at 80.8%, followed by Shanghai at 78.5%, Shenzhen at 71.3%, Hangzhou at 70.4% and Guangzhou at 55.6%.
Smaller cities fared far worse. In Luoyang, for example, only 12.87% of auctioned homes found buyers, meaning not even 13 out of every 100 listed properties actually sold.
Auctioned homes nationwide sold for about 73% of their appraised value on average in 2026, a discount of roughly 27%. If a home fails to sell at its first auction, the starting price for the next round can be cut by up to 20%.
A columnist who writes under the pen name Yang Po describes the situation as especially brutal in Shijiazhuang, a second-tier city near Beijing where many homeowners have lost their jobs, their homes and a lifetime of savings during the property downturn in recent years.
She cites the case of a local man surnamed Zhang, who bought a small three-bedroom apartment in 2019 for 1.1 million yuan, with a 350,000 yuan down payment, a 750,000 yuan mortgage and monthly payments of 4,200 yuan. Zhang lost his job in the winter of 2024 and became a food deliverer but could not make ends meet. His home was then listed for court auction, with the starting price set at 660,000 yuan, about 70% of its appraised value. There were no bidders. In the second round, it was sold for 560,000 yuan, meaning that Zhang still owed the bank about 190,000 yuan.
She says the low sale price dragged down valuations in the surrounding neighborhood, adding to the anxiety of other secondary-home owners nearby.
Property developers have also pulled back, slowing new projects as the downturn drags on. NBS said nationwide real estate development investment fell 19.2% year-on-year to 4.3 trillion yuan in the first seven months of the year.
https://asiatimes.com/2026/08/flood-of-discounted-auction-homes-deepens-chinas-property-slump/
Diesel prices in California hit $7 per gallon again Wednesday as the wars in Eastern Europe and the Middle East knock out refineries, triggering a fuel supply crunch around the world.
Truckers in the Golden State are shelling out about 30 cents more per gallon than they paid a month ago, according to data from AAA. Prices have surged about 37%, or $1.89 per gallon, compared to the same period last year.
Diesel in California hit a record of $7.75 per gallon in April as Iran choked tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. It fell below $6.50 in July after as exports through Hormuz picked up in the wake of the memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran.
But prices are rising again just as farmers prepare for the harvest and freight transportation picks up ahead of the holiday shopping season. Diesel averaged $5.50 a gallon across the U.S. on Wednesday, an increase of about 40 cents over the past month and $1.81 higher compared to the same period in 2025.
Consumers see rising diesel prices in their grocery and other shopping bills. "That's a pretty significant inflationary concern," Kevin Book, managing director at ClearView Energy Partners, told CNBC's "Squawk Box" Monday.
Diesel is the most important fuel for the global economy, said Bob McNally, president of Rapidan Energy. It is used "in transportation, it's in heating fuel, it's in agriculture, it's in industrial uses," McNally told CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" on Monday. "It is the important macro fuel to watch," he said.
The refiners, meanwhile, are booking huge profits as the margin to turn crude into diesel has surged to $100 per barrel. That is higher than the price of U.S. crude oil which is trading around $85.
Diesel prices are higher in California than the rest of the continental U.S. in part because the state is more reliant on costly crude oil imports, Andy Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates, said. It also requires a special diesel formulation. Environmental regulations and state excise and sales taxes also add to fuel costs in California.
Supply outages
Diesel prices are rising as the wars in the Ukraine and Iran wars have disrupted about 8% of the supply needed to meet 28 million barrels per day of global demand, Lipow said.
Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian refineries have forced Moscow to ban diesel exports of around 800,000 bpd, Lipow added.
The disruption in the Strait of Hormuz has affected about 1.2 million bpd of Middle East diesel exports, the analyst said. Iran's Houthi allies in Yemen recently attacked Saudi Arabia's Red Sea refinery in Jizan, shutting the facility and its 200,000 bpd of capacity at least until the end of August, he said.
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/19/diesel-price-california-ukraine-russia-iran-strait-hormuz.html
The margin for making diesel from crude oil in the US has soared to more than $100 a barrel, setting new all-time highs as a global fuel-making crunch continues to exacerbate fuel prices.
The widely watched gauge, known as the diesel crack spread, hovered around $100 a barrel on Tuesday down slightly from record highs over $102 a barrel. The spread settled in triple digits for the first time on Monday.
Before this year, the measure had never risen above $89 a barrel, with the prior record set in October 2022 as the world grappled with a shortage of the fuel heading into the first winter of the Russia-Ukraine war.
Now, a near-perfect storm of factors has coalesced to raise prices once again, threatening a winter of higher heating bills and inflationary shocks. Diesel prices soared in the initial weeks of the US-Iran war and have remained elevated, owing to pressure on fuel markets from lost crude oil supplies and refined products trapped behind the Strait of Hormuz.
Meanwhile, disruptions from Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian refineries prompted temporary bans on exports of the fuel from the key producer, pushing up prices globally as buyers scramble to secure alternate supplies.
US diesel exports, already at record highs, are filling some of the gaps, but domestic supplies are the lowest entering the end of August since 1996. Infrastructure issues around the world — including disruptions from drone strikes in Libya and Houthi rebel attacks in Saudi Arabia — are also adding pressure to tight markets.
The outsized profits are incentivizing refiners to defer planned maintenance work, raising the risk of unplanned outages that disrupt fuel processing and send prices surging even further.
U.S. President Donald Trump threatened any country helping Iran in any way with “tremendous economic consequences,” as the American Administration is ratcheting up economic pressure on Iran in the hope of ending the war it began in February.
Late on Wednesday, President Trump took to his social media platform Truth Social – as usual – to announce massive economic pressure on Iran and simultaneously threaten dire economic consequences on any country providing a “lifeline” to Iran in any way.
“No one has given the Islamic Republic of Iran a greater opportunity to make a Deal than me. TRAGICALLY, for them, they have failed to take it. Therefore, today, I am announcing the MOST CRUSHING ECONOMIC OPERATION EVER TAKEN AGAINST ANY COUNTRY!,” President Trump wrote.
The crushing economic operation would be “on an unprecedented scale” to isolate Iran economically, according to the U.S. President.
“Today, I am also announcing that ANY country that allows its financial institutions, businesses, airports, or government entities to provide any type of lifeline to Iran will itself face TREMENDOUS Economic Consequences,” President Trump said.
“Oil smuggling, swap lines, cash transfers, exchange houses, ship registries, front companies — It all needs to stop NOW. You know who you are. This will be an ECONOMIC D-DAY, and we need all of our Allies to stand with the United States of America to isolate, and defeat, the Iran threat.”
The U.S. President did not explicitly name any country in his post.
In the oil market, Iran’s key customer is none other than China, which has been buying more than 90% of all sanctioned Iranian oil in recent years.
Earlier this month, analysts expected that China’s independent refiners are likely to return to buying higher volumes of Iran’s crude oil in August as stockpiles in Shandong, home to the independent Chinese refiners, have dropped to the lowest level this year after the biggest estimated monthly draw in a decade.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
Chinese refiners are buying Iraqi crude, with recent purchases of 8 million barrels of Basrah Heavy and Basrah Medium for prompt delivery, Bloomberg has reported, citing unnamed traders.
Oil has continued flowing via the Strait of Hormuz-Iraq's main export channel-despite the Iranian blockade, but the blockade has reduced these flows to a fraction of what they once were. For the week to August 17, Marine Traffic reported a total of 95 vessel crossings, down from 118 the previous week.
Some tankers have found a way around that by turning off their transponders, which makes them undetectable for vessel-tracking systems. However, that has not been enough to bring oil flows much closer to pre-war levels.
On top of this, Saudi Arabia has had to divert its oil exports first from Hormuz to the Red Sea and then from the port of Yanbu to Egypt because of Yemeni Houthi attacks on its tankers and energy infrastructure. To avoid strikes on its tankers, the Saudis are shipping the crude north, via the Suez Canal, which has a much lower tanker capacity than Bab el-Mandeb.
Iraq, however, has managed to boost its exports via the Strait of Hormuz from earlier months. According to its state oil marketing company, the country has been exporting crude at a rate of 2 million barrels daily since the start of the month, Bloomberg noted in its report.
The Iraqi crude should help Chinese refiners make up for some supply from Saudi Arabia that will be taking longer to reach its final destination in China because of the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb situation. Chinese refiners have also been buying Emirati crude. At a spot tender at the end of July, Chinese majors including Sinopec, PetroChina, and Sinochem bought some 2 million barrels of Upper Zakum, Reuters reported at the time. ADNOC sold a total of 12 million barrels of crude at that tender.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
Silver (SI=F) September futures opened at $67.08 per ounce on Thursday, August 20, 2026, up 1.9% from Wednesday's closing price. The silver price moved lower this morning, reaching $66.81 as of 9:04 a.m. ET.
The silver price opened higher Thursday morning after long-term Treasury yields declined on Wednesday. The decline followed a U.S. Treasury announcement that it would double buybacks of long-term bonds over the next few months. The doubling of repurchases, to $4 billion or more per operation, is not significant in a market worth $32 trillion according to analysts. Its effect on the long-term borrowing costs will likely be short term.
The quick decline in yields did benefit silver, however. The metal briefly rose above $67 for the first time since June before moderating.
Current price of silver
The opening price of silver futures on Thursday, August 20, 2026, was 1.9% higher compared to Wednesday's closing price. Here's how today's opening silver price has changed versus last week, month, and year:
One week ago: +5%
One month ago: +20.5%
One year ago: +77.7%
For context, silver's year-over-year growth was 173.3% on May 14.
China’s Zijin Gold International has acquired approximately 9.2 percent of Canadian mining company Allied Gold Corporation, giving the company indirect exposure to major gold assets including the Kurmuk project in western Ethiopia.
Allied Gold announced that the transaction, valued at just under USD 300 million, had been completed following months of negotiations between the companies.
“With the completion of the strategic investment, Zijin Gold holds approximately 9.2 percent of the issued and outstanding common shares of the company,” Allied Gold said.
The investment gives Zijin Gold an interest in Allied Gold’s portfolio of mining assets in Ethiopia, Mali and Côte d’Ivoire.
The Kurmuk Gold Project is located in Ethiopia’s Benishangul-Gumuz Regional State, close to the country’s western border with Sudan. The project is among Ethiopia’s most significant emerging large-scale gold developments and is expected to substantially increase the country’s industrial gold production once fully operational.
Allied Gold has indicated that it expects the Kurmuk project to begin contributing to production shortly, with output projected at between 240,000 and 270,000 ounces of gold in 2027. At prevailing international gold prices, production at that level could represent close to USD 1 billion in annual gold value.
The transaction follows an earlier plan by Zijin to acquire Allied Gold in its entirety for approximately USD 4 billion. The proposed acquisition was later discontinued after the transaction did not receive the necessary regulatory approval in China.
Following the collapse of the full acquisition, the companies moved forward with the minority investment arrangement.
Allied Gold said proceeds from the transaction would be used to strengthen and expand operations across its mining portfolio. The company identified operational improvements, project development and the completion and ramp-up of the Kurmuk project among its priorities.
Zijin Gold International forms part of Zijin Mining Group, one of China’s largest global mining companies, with investments across gold, copper, lithium and other mineral resources.
The transaction comes as Ethiopia seeks to attract greater investment into its mining sector. Government officials have identified gold and other critical minerals as priority areas for investment as the country works to expand mineral production, exports and foreign currency earnings.
Source: Middle East Eye
Gold soared above $4,500 an ounce on Wednesday, extending a powerful rally as falling long-term Treasury yields and a weaker U.S. dollar outweighed a hawkish message from the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting minutes.
Gold briefly reclaimed $4,500 during the session, its highest level in roughly two months. Spot bullion was later around $4,488, up 3.6%, while U.S. gold futures settled 2.8% higher at $4,545.30. The move also carried gold above its closely watched 100-day moving average near $4,381.
The breakout follows several weeks of improving momentum. Coinpaper’s latest had highlighted the $4,440–$4,450 area as an important resistance zone, with UBS maintaining a longer-term target of $5,000.
Treasury Buybacks Send Bond Yields Lower
The biggest catalyst came from the U.S. Treasury rather than the Fed.
The Treasury announced plans to double the size of buybacks for longer-dated government bonds, providing relief to a market that had pushed 30-year yields to their highest level since 2007.
The 30-year Treasury yield fell nearly 10 basis points to around 5.19%, after reaching 5.337% a day earlier.
Lower bond yields tend to support gold because the metal does not pay interest, reducing the opportunity cost of holding bullion. The dollar index also fell about 0.8%, making dollar-denominated gold cheaper for overseas buyers.
The relationship between gold, yields and the dollar has already been a major driver this month. Coinpaper recently examined how .
Fed Minutes Keep Rate Hike Risk Alive
The rally held even after the , which showed growing concern about persistent inflation.
Several policymakers were prepared to raise rates at the July meeting, while many said further tightening could be required if inflation does not return toward the Fed’s 2% target. The central bank ultimately kept rates at 3.50%–3.75%, with three officials voting for a quarter-point increase.
Short-term yields reacted more directly to the hawkish tone, with the two-year Treasury yield edging higher after the minutes. Longer maturities remained lower because of the Treasury buyback announcement.
Gold’s rally also spread across precious metals. Silver gained nearly 4%, platinum rose about 5.1% and palladium advanced 2.7%, pointing to broader demand across the sector.
For gold, the next technical test is whether prices can hold above the $4,500 area. A sustained breakout would strengthen the bullish structure, while a move back below the level could turn $4,500 into resistance again.
By Park Han-sol
Private equity firm MBK Partners has threatened legal action against Korea Zinc management over what it called “false and misleading” claims about companies in its investment portfolio, escalating the latest fight for control of the zinc smelter ahead of an extraordinary general meeting (EGM).
Korea Zinc is due to hold the EGM on Sept. 9, with shareholders set to vote on five outside directors, including one audit committee member. The MBK Partners-Young Poong alliance, the smelter’s largest shareholder, is seeking to take control of the board in a contest with Chairman Choi Yun-beom.
MBK objected to explanatory materials for the meeting posted on Korea Zinc’s website by Choi’s camp, accusing the company of selectively presenting and distorting facts about the performance of executives at its portfolio companies.
The private equity firm demanded that the problematic materials be removed and that measures be taken to prevent similar claims from being made again. It warned that it could pursue criminal complaints and other legal action if its demands are not met.
The disputed materials challenge the management capabilities of Young Poong and MBK and raise concerns about the potential impact on corporate governance if MBK takes control of Korea Zinc. They cite the post-acquisition performance and financial condition of companies previously acquired by MBK as alleged examples of the risks the private equity firm could pose as an operator.
“Instead of explaining to shareholders the fundamental issues they face, such as allegations of various illegal or improper acts and sanctions from financial authorities, Korea Zinc’s current management, including Choi Yun-beom, is dragging unrelated companies into a shareholder vote and distorting the facts,” an MBK Partners official said.
“If Korea Zinc does not immediately remove the false materials and continues its improper solicitation of shareholder votes, we will take all available legal measures to protect shareholders’ interests and preserve market confidence.”
The image used in this article is generated with an AI tool and does not depict any real-time moment
Chuangxin Industries reported a sharp improvement in its first-half (H1) 2026 earnings, supported by higher aluminium prices, lower production costs and reduced finance costs. Revenue reached RMB 11.53 billion (USD 1.7 billion), while profit attributable to the company's owners rose to RMB 2.30 billion (USD 342 million), up about 166 per cent year on year.
The company said the stronger market was supported by rising demand from areas including artificial intelligence infrastructure, electric vehicles (EV) and renewable energy. In contrast, geopolitical tensions and higher energy costs continued to affect the aluminium market.
A major part of Chuangxin's strategy is its integrated aluminium production chain, covering energy, alumina refining and electrolytic aluminium smelting. The company says its own power generation and alumina capacity can meet its production needs, reducing its exposure to fluctuations in electricity and raw material prices.
Energy is also becoming an important part of its cost and production strategy. In Inner Mongolia, Chuangxin had commissioned 1,040 MW of wind power and 110 MW of solar capacity. The company's wider renewable-energy programme is expected to raise the share of green electricity used in aluminium production to more than 50 per cent once completed.
The company is also expanding outside China. Its integrated 500,000-tonne-per-year aluminium project in Saudi Arabia, being developed with partners, has completed the required approvals and construction is underway. The project is expected to strengthen Chuangxin's international production base and give it greater access to overseas markets and energy resources.
Chuangxin is also working to strengthen its upstream supply security through investments in alumina and mining assets. Alongside its production expansion, the company is investing in automation, digital manufacturing and energy-saving technologies to improve production efficiency and reduce energy use. It has also established a board-level ESG committee and published its first ESG report.
The combination of integrated production, greater use of renewable power and overseas expansion is becoming a central part of Chuangxin's aluminium strategy. Its first-half results show how these measures are supporting earnings as the company continues to expand its production and resource base.
The European steel market remains subdued in August due to the summer holiday period and weak demand. Market activity is expected to pick up as companies return to business from August 24.
EU import quotas, CBAM and fewer import options are expected to tighten supply in September, while producers are expected to push for price increases from September 1. However, weak demand, economic uncertainty and high energy costs are likely to remain key factors limiting price increases.
According to market sources, upward pressure on European HRC prices is expected to strengthen in September, although the increase is likely to remain controlled due to subdued demand.
As of August 18, the latest deals heard for October-delivery HRC in Northern Europe were concluded at EUR715–730/ton EXW at the end of the previous week.
According to market intelligence, this range remains workable, while producer offers are currently heard at EUR740–750/ton EXW.
Italy HRC
The Italian market was also largely stable. EUR705–710/ton EXW was reported as the workable price range, while producer offers were heard at around EUR720/ton EXW.
https://www.steelradar.com/en/haber/european-hrc-market-prices-expected-to-increase-in-september/
Indian steelmakers are reeling from a jump in coking coal prices this year that is squeezing their margins and delaying capacity expansion in the steelmaking industry, analysts and industry executives tell Reuters.
India relies on imports for as much as 95% of its coking coal, or metallurgical coal, demand. Metallurgical coal is a grade of coal that is one of the essential raw materials in the steelmaking process. Also known as met coal, this type of coal contains more carbon, less ash and less moisture than thermal coal, which is used for electricity generation.
With India relying on coking coal imports for nearly all its demand, the supply disruptions this year and the surging prices have pressured Indian steel makers.
The price of premium coking coal freight on board (FOB) in Australia surged by 25% in the first seven months of this year compared to last year due to a series of supply disruptions, Banmeet Khurmi, metallurgical coal and coke market service lead at Sydney-based consultancy CRU told Reuters.
The price increase has been the result of slower ramp-up of new mines, higher prices due to the Iran war, supply disruptions at key producer Australia, and the deadly coal mine explosion in China’s Shanxi province that killed more than 80 people in the worst Chinese mining accident in years.
“Steelmaking coal prices strengthened from CY2025 levels as strong Indian import demand and supply disruptions tightened an otherwise balanced seaborne market,” mining giant BHP said in its Economic and commodity outlook this week.
India has expanded its steelmaking capacity to about 220 Mtpa in the financial year 2026, up 10% year-on-year, and is targeting 500 Mtpa by 2047, much of which will be blast furnace based, according to BHP.
Yet, analysts say that coking coal costs for Indian steelmakers are expected to remain elevated at least through the second half of the year amid supply losses from China and Australia. And the Indian industry will pay the higher costs of the key steel-making commodity without the ability to raise prices because of the Chinese competition, executives told Reuters.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
