​Hui Ka Yan, the founder and chairman of Chinese real estate giant Evergrande, has lost his billionaire status after being the second richest man in Asia just 6 years ago, Business Insider reports.

In 2017, Hui’s fortune was $42 billion, second only to India’s Ambani family in Asia.

But now the 65-year-old Chinese tycoon, who was placed under house arrest by Chinese authorities in September, has lost his billionaire status after his fortune plunged 98% amid the deep Evergrande crisis that hit China’s real estate sector.

According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index published on Wednesday, the fortune of the Chinese tycoon is currently $979 million.

Hui was placed under house arrest on September 29 after authorities arrested some employees of Evergrande’s wealth management division earlier that month.

His fortunes have plummeted with the collapse of shares in Evergrande, which just a few years ago was one of China’s leading companies during a massive construction boom.

The main challenges for the company founded by Hui Ka Yang

Much of the newly built housing has never been sold, and a former senior Beijing official recently said empty apartments across China could hold another 1.4 billion people.

While it’s not entirely clear how much of Hui’s former fortune went to his stake in Evergrande, it still accounts for 60 percent, and the tycoon is the company’s largest shareholder.

Evergrande’s debt has risen to 2.44 trillion yuan (about 302 billion euros) by December 2022, following annual net losses of 686 billion yuan in 2021 and 126 billion yuan in 2022, according to Manager Magazin.

Despite the difficulties, Evergrande Group remains the second largest real estate company in China. Evegrande is engaged in the development of projects in the field of real estate and the sale of housing mainly to residents of middle and high wealth. The company is located in Shenzhen, but the holding company is registered in the Cayman Islands.

The real estate market accounts for about a quarter of the Chinese economy. According to a recent Reuters tally, real estate investment in China fell 20.6% in June from the same month last year, after a minus 21.5% in May.