Beijing unlikely to loosen property price controls, says Sun Hongbin, boss of construction giant Sunac China
- Expectations of looser price controls have been building as the slowing economy has piled pressure on local governments to seek growth from the property sector
- The builder says it has no plans to diversify its business as it reports 2018 revenue of 125 billion yuan, up 89 per cent from a year earlier
Sunac China Holdings, mainland China’s fourth largest developer, is not optimistic about the country’s property market.
The company expects to generate 550 billion yuan (US$81.8 billion) from home sales this year. Although that would represent a 19 per cent rise, it would be a slower growth rate than last year’s 27.3 per cent increase and a far cry from the 140.3 per cent growth it saw in 2017.
Chairman and founder Sun Hongbin said in a post-earnings press briefing on Friday that the company will be cautious buying land this year as the government is unlikely to relax curbs on home prices.
“Stabilising home prices is the government’s core pledge ... any substantial relaxation of the current tight home price policies is impossible,” he said.
Expectations of looser price controls have been building up in China over the past few months, as the slowing economy has piled pressure on local governments to seek growth from the property sector.
Sunac’s contracted sales for last year came in at 460.83 billion yuan. The company’s total revenue was 124.75 billion yuan, up 89 per cent from a year earlier, mainly thanks to property sales of 118 billion yuan.