Shares in mainland Chinese property developers trading in Hong Kong have lost steam lately. A Bloomberg index of 22 of these stocks dropped 13 per cent on Tuesday from its record high on Thursday last week after eight mainland cities, mostly second-tier ones including Chongqing and Nanjing, unveiled restrictions on home resales to rein in prices. The gauge had more than doubled since 2016 until Thursday last week, led by Sunac China Holdings and China Evergrande Group with gains of at least 300 per cent as profits soared on the back of rising home prices. Despite the rally, mainland developers are still not too expensive compared with Hong Kong stocks. At Tuesday’s close, the average price-earnings ratio of the 22 developers was 41 per cent lower than that of the benchmark Hang Seng Index.