Evergrande to launch 10 new projects in May
Evergrande Real Estate Group plans to launch about 10 new residential projects for pre-sale in the coming Labour Day holiday in May, traditionally a peak time for property sales.
Vice-chairman James Xia Haijun said he expected the projects would have a combined a gross floor area of approximately 1.5 million to two million square metres.
'That should meet the market demand,' he said, after the company announced contracted sales last month rose more than 50 per cent year on year to 5.52 billion yuan (HK$6.55 billion). The steep rise came as Evergrande last month sold 37 per cent more gross floor area year on year. It said the average selling price was 7,216 yuan per sq metre, up 9.4 per cent from the same period last year.
Between January and March, the group's contracted sales amounted to 19.8 billion yuan, more than 28 per cent of the developer's sales target for the whole year.
Xia said the limit on the number of home purchases on the mainland had had minimal impact on sales as Evergrande's projects were mostly located in third-tier cities, where the property sector had been less affected by such curbs. The group aimed to raise sales revenue in the third-tier cities from 40 per cent this year to 60 per cent next year. In January, the State Council barred mainlanders from buying a home if they already owned more than two properties in the city where they reside.
Xia said the restriction would be more strictly implemented in first-tier cities, where home prices have risen significantly in the past year.
The company's projects in third-tier cities, he said, were reasonably priced. For instance, a 100 square metre unit is offered for about 600,000 yuan. Buyers would need to put in an initial deposit of about 200,000 yuan, which meant they would have to pay a monthly mortgage instalment of 3,000 yuan on a 30-year mortgage loan term.
Shares of Evergrande fell 1.67 per cent to HK$4.7 yesterday.
