China property developers may issue $150 billion in bonds in 2016

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's listed property developers issued 960 billion yuan (110.8 billion pounds) in bonds as of Sept. 19, more than three times the amount in the same period last year, financial magazine Caixin reported, citing data from WIND, a Chinese financial data provider.

"At this pace, there is no suspense that bond sales by property developers would reach over 1 trillion yuan ($149.91 billion) this year," the report said.

The report attributed the rise to easier access, low interest rates, encouraging property policies and a lack of other investment channels.

The biggest property bonds issuers this year include Dalian Wanda Commercial Properties and Guangzhou R&F Properties, who issued 37 billion yuan ($5.55 billion) and 36.8 billion yuan ($5.52 billion) in bonds respectively, as of Sept. 7 this year, according to Caixin.

Average new home prices in China climbed 9.2 percent in August from a year earlier, up from 7.9 percent in July as buyers piled into the market ahead of expected restrictions on home purchases in more cities.

Chinese policymakers have expressed concerns over mounting debts from the frothy property market of late, with the central bank's chief economist urging more steps to curb capital flowing into property.

(Reporting by Yawen Chen and Nathaniel Taplin; Editing by Kim Coghill)