Country Garden among property developers reporting slowdown in half-yearly profit, as era of ‘skyrocketing’ growth ends
- Interim profit at Country Garden rises by 23.4 per cent, well below the 80.2 per cent increase reported in 2018
- Developers are struggling with thin profits, promotion and marketing costs, analyst says
Four mainland Chinese property developers reported slow growth in half-yearly profits on Thursday, in a sign even the top companies are losing momentum amid tighter regulations and slowing sales growth.
Country Garden, the largest seller of homes in China, reported a 23.4 per cent increase in its interim core net profit, excluding valuation gains and foreign-exchange losses, to 15.98 billion yuan (US$2.25 billion) for the six months ending on June 30, according to a filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange. The rise was well below the 80.2 per cent increase in interim core net profit the company reported in 2018.
“We will no longer see skyrocketing year-on-year profit growth in the housing sector. The developers are struggling with thin profits under tightened government cooling measures, for example price caps, and more spending on project sales promotions and marketing,” said Yan Yuejin, research director at Shanghai-based property services company E-House China R&D Institute.
The housing sector has been one of the main pillars of China’s extraordinary economic growth over the past few decades. Last year, the sector reported sales totalling US$1.8 trillion – or seven times the property transaction volume in the United States.
China Overseas Land & Investment, ranked 10th by sales, reported an interim core profit of HK$20.99 billion, up 9.5 per cent, but below the 14.3 per cent increase it reported last year for the same period.