Sales of Chinese developers up 33% in Q1
A residential complex in Linyi City, Shandong Province, on April 11, 2018.
The combined sales of 30 Chinese property developers rose 33 percent to 1.1 trillion yuan (US$175 billion) in the first quarter of 2018.
The floor area sold in the period rose 28 percent year-on-year to 83.86 million square meters, according to Centaline Group's property research center.
Centaline analyst Zhang Dawei attributed the strong growth mainly to sales carried over from the previous year, steady sales in first-tier cities and high level of transactions in smaller cities.
The top three developers in terms of Q1 sales were Country Garden, China Evergrande and China Vanke, with combined sales of more than 500 billion yuan, or about half of the total.
"We will support people in buying homes for personal use, and develop the housing rental market and shared ownership housing," according to this year's government work report, reiterating that "housing is for living in, not speculation."
During previous years, rocketing housing prices, especially in major cities, had fueled concerns about asset bubbles. To curb speculation, local governments passed or expanded restrictions on house purchases and increased minimum downpayment requirements.
