The debt problems afflicting China’s real estate market deepened on Tuesday after a developer defaulted on its bonds while the world’s most heavily indebted property group Evergrande extended a suspension of its shares into a second day without explanation.

Fantasia Holdings, a mid-sized developer that just weeks ago assured investors it had “no liquidity issue”, said in a stock exchange filing that it “did not make the payment” on Monday of a $206m bond maturing that day, triggering a formal default.

The default adds to fears that a crisis at Evergrande will spread to include more of China’s property developers, which account for a large portion of the Asian high-yield bond market. The real estate sector faces pressure from Beijing to reduce leverage after decades of debt-driven expansion that helped fuel the country’s rapid economic growth.