China Vanke, the largest developer listed on the mainland, is taking a prudent approach to land acquisition, saying it would rather miss an opportunity than make a bad purchase at a time of high land prices.
As of December last year, the company had attributable gross floor space of 381.8 million square feet, which it said was sufficient for the moment.
'It will meet the company's development needs within the next two to three years,' said China Vanke president Yu Liang, speaking in Hong Kong. The company, which is listed on Shenzhen's A-share market, would continue building up cash reserves to wait for buying opportunities, he added.
'It's hard to predict how much land prices will fall right now, but we're still closely monitoring the market in different cities,' he said.
Last year, it acquired 52 development sites, with about 99.2 million sq ft planned gross floor area attributable to the company, at an average land cost of 2,707 yuan (HK$3,314) per square metre.
This year, Yu said the firm had to pay a total of 30 billion yuan in land premiums.