With Evergrande's foreign bondholders saying they have yet to receive a closely watched $83.5 million interest payment that was due at midnight in New York on Thursday, or noon on Friday in Hong Kong, in effect starting a 30 day grace period before a hard default is triggered, Bloomberg reports that China's housing regulator has "stepped up oversight of China Evergrande Group's bank accounts to ensure funds are used to complete housing projects and not diverted to pay creditors."

In other words, China is now not only deciding how the insolvent developer distributes its cash flow and, but is also forcing it to prioritize operational outlays over payments to creditors, a step which companies traditionally take after they have filed for bankruptcy. The move is a confirmation that homeowners come first on Beijing's priority list for managing the Evergrande crisis - in hopes of preventing a major hit to China's property sector - even as bondholders, banks and other creditors seek repayments on more than $300 billion in liabilities from the world's most indebted developer.