Junk-bond issuance by China’s riskier companies has nearly ground to a halt, creating more challenges for the country’s real-estate developers that need to roll over more than $40bn in dollar debt by the end of next year.

Sales of new junk bonds in dollars by Chinese borrowers this month have fallen by about 90% from their five-year average to $352m as of Wednesday, Dealogic data shows, reflecting just two deals from smaller developers.