The mortgage rebellions have roiled a property market facing the fallout from a decades-long housing bubble. ANZ Research estimates that the boycotts could affect about $222 billion of home loans sitting on bank balance sheets, or roughly 4 percent of outstanding mortgages.

Recent college graduates are struggling to find work with youth unemployment at 20 percent.Chinese Premier Li Keqiang urged a 'heightened sense of urgency' for an economic recovery. Real estate drives about one-third of China’s economic activity, by some estimates.

Housing accounts for about 70 percent of household wealth, making it the most important investment for most Chinese people.The countrys economy is on a path for its slowest growth in decades.

Its factories are selling less to the world, and its consumers are spending less at home. The government has scrambled to limit the attention garnered by the boycotts. After an initial flurry of mortgage strike notices went viral on social media, the governments internet censors kicked into action.

The move created a cash crunch for many firms that had relied on easy access to debt to keep construction projects humming. The local government in Zhengzhou has said it would create a bailout fund to provide capital for struggling developers.

Last month, the Politburo, China’s top ruling body, said local governments should make sure unfinished buildings are completed.In more than 100 cities across China, homeowners are refusing to repay loans on unfinished properties.

The number of properties where collectives of homeowners have started or threatened to boycott has reached 326 nationwide. If the developers do not finish building, 'all owners will forcibly stop repaying the loans' at the end of August, they wrote.

The Yufa Group, the developer, told the homeowners that the handover had to be delayed until December. Those plans are now on hold as construction at the Zhengzhou development remains halted.

It has also created unwanted complication for President Xi Jinping, who is expected to coast to a third term as party leader.

But the influence of the strikes has already begun to spread. Any momentum behind the mortgage strikes would add to a growing number of economic issues facing the Chinese Communist Party.

Times have changed. It's time for a new era of economic freedom in China, says Mr Xi.