China Vanke Ltd., the country's largest property developer by market value, announced on Saturday that its sales value nationwide in the first quarter rose 21 percent to 12.22 billion yuan (US$1.79 billion).

Qin Rui, a senior analyst with Beijing-based 5i5j Real Estate Service Co., told Xinhua on Sunday Vanke had made huge profits in previous years when the domestic property market was bullish, adding that Vanke took a leading role among its peers in selling its apartments at lower prices.

The southern Guangdong-based Vanke said its average sales price of various real estate projects stood at 8,013 yuan per square meter, down 9.2 percent year on year.

Chinese were in a hectic mood for buying apartments in 2007, when the stock market was also bullish, igniting Chinese passion for investment. The real estate market slumped last year as investor confidence was dampened by the global financial crisis and economic slowdown.

Experts said that many domestic medium and small-sized property developers were endeavoring to sell their inventory apartments or villas, trying to collect the capital they had pooled in the housing projects.

Figures revealed that the commercial housing inventory across the country stood at 164 million square meters by the end of 2008, up 21.8 percent year on year.

Li Shaoming, a senior analyst of China Jianyin Investment Securities, said it was not easy for Vanke to achieve sales rise in the first quarter as its peers were also stepping up efforts to sell more flats.

Wa Jia, an industry analyst with southern Fujian-based Industrial Securities, said Vanke dished out only one new project this year, showing that domestic property developers were still cautious about new investment.

(Xinhua News Agency April 13, 2009)