‘Policy relaxation’ to rekindle China homes prices later this year, says Hong Kong-listed developer
- Cifi Holdings expects China home prices to accelerate in the second half
- Guangzhou and Heze among mainland cities that have already begun unwinding property-cooling measures
As storm clouds gather over the mainland housing market, one property developer is betting on sunnier skies in the months ahead as local governments seek to kick-start economic growth.
Cifi Holdings, the Shanghai-based property developer with a presence in 55 mainland cities, expects a pickup in home sales in the second half of the year as local governments unwind austerity measures designed to cool home prices.
“We think that the property market, despite getting off to a slow start this year, will grow faster in the second half amid policy relaxation,” said Lin Feng, chief executive of Cifi. “More opportunities will arise this year as we chase solid business growth.”
The Hong Kong-listed company forecasts housing sales of 190 billion yuan (US$28.3 billion) in 2019, up 25 per cent on year.
Cifi’s contract sales of partially built homes in January to February slid 9.2 per cent to 15.4 billion yuan owing to the downbeat property sector.
Cifi said on Thursday its underlying profit for 2018 totalled 5.54 billion yuan on revenue of 42.4 billion yuan, up 33 per cent from a year earlier. The result was in line with analysts’ expectations.