Forest City sales fell 20% in 2017 on Chinese capital limits

PETALING JAYA (March 22): Country Garden Holdings Co Ltd’s Forest City (pictured) development in Johor saw its sales fall by 20% in 2017 to 8 billion yuan (US$1.3 billion) from 10 billion yuan in 2016 on reduced outbound investments owing to China’s capital curbs, reported Reuters.

However, its chief financial officer Wu Bijun said development will not slow down this year; in fact, the developer expects sales to grow, and has opened 23 sales offices abroad.

The mega project — which will have homes, office towers, malls and schools — is said to be worth US$100 billion (RM391 billion) in investments over 20 years and was originally aimed at mainland Chinese moving abroad.

Forest City’s sales performance contrasts with Country Garden’s take-ups in China, which have doubled its core profit to a record high — excluding non-recurring income and revaluation gains — to 24.7 billion yuan, underpinned by a 48% jump in revenue, despite Beijing’s moves to cool down China’s real estate market.