China Vanke 1H property sales up 19.5% y-o-y, says paper

SHANGHAI: China Vanke said property sales in the first six months rose 19.5% year-on-year (y-o-y) to 367.7 billion yuan (RM175 billion), after it priced developments lower than expected, the China Securities Journal reported on Tuesday, July 6.

Vanke, the country's top listed developer, had seen its sales plummet earlier this year, with property sales dropping 20.2% in May as government curbs on speculation took their toll.

Sales in June rose 27.9% year-on-year to 8.8 billion yuan after the developer cut its prices by around 15% from April to attract buyers in affluent Chinese cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen.

Wary of an asset bubble forming in the country's red-hot property market, Beijing has taken measures to cool real estate fever, including raising mortgage rates and down payments for second homes and pushing local governments to curb speculative buying.

The tightening policies helped trigger a 28% plunge in Shanghai's stock index this year, with property shares suffering the most. — Reuters