Beijing officials have tried to brush off fears over the state of the country’s heavily indebted property sector.

A government spokesman tried to reassure the public that conditions were improving in the property sector, AP reported.

“The risks of housing enterprises are expected to be gradually resolved,” said Fu Linghui of the National Bureau of Statistics. He told a news conference that policy changes would “help boost market confidence”.

He added: “Housing consumption and housing enterprises’ willingness to invest are expected to gradually improve.”

The remarks come after property giant Country Garden missed a series of debt repayment deadlines and warned it faced the possibility of default in December. The property giant has around $200bn in liabilities after the country’s real estate sector slumped.

Meanwhile, investment giant Zhongzhi Enterprise, which has around $137bn in assets, has hired KPMG to help audit its vast balance sheet as it attempts to restructure its debt.

The investing giant has suspended payments on nearly all of its products as it faces a liquidity crisis.

Jitters across Asian markets sent Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index down to a near nine-month low at one stage overnight, however it has since recovered slightly in late trading. Yesterday Tencent, one of China’s biggest technology companies, missed market expectations sending its shares down.