China property firms jump after big developers show smaller sales drop

China Overseas Land & Investment

02/07/2024 05:12

HONG KONG, July 2 (Reuters) - Shares in Hong Kong-listed
Chinese property companies surged on Tuesday, after private data
showed yearly sales declines for major Chinese property
developers continued to narrow in June.
    The Hang Seng Mainland Properties Index  .HSMPI  was up 3.5%
by noon, after jumping as much as 4.8% earlier in the session.
    Private developers Longfor Group  0960.HK , Shimao Group
 0813.HK  and Agile  3383.HK  each surged more than 5%, while
state-backed China Resources Land  1109.HK  and privately-owned
CIFI Holdings  0884.HK  gained more than 4%.     
    The market is closely watching the impact a major government
package of support measures launched in mid-May would have on
stabilizing the country's ailing property sector.
    Sales value at China's top 100 real estate developers in
June rose 36.3% from May, while it dropped 16.7% from a year
ago, narrowing from the 33.7% annual decline in the previous
month, according to data from property researcher CRIC.
    Nearly one-third of these developers, mostly state-owned and
state-backed companies including China Overseas Land &
Investment  0688.HK , Poly Developments  600048.SS , Greentown
China  3900.HK  and China Resources Land, posted year-on-year
gains in June sales, CRIC said, highlighting the polarization in
the sector.
    The research firm said it expects more home purchases after
the raft of supportive measures, while the yearly drop in July
would continue to narrow due to a low base last year. 
    Another property sector research company, China Index
Academy, said on Monday the average price for new homes across
100 cities edged up 0.15% month-on-month in June, their slowest
pace in five months. 
    In May, Chinese authorities unveiled what they called a
historic support package for the property sector that has been
hit hard by a liquidity crunch since 2021 with many firms
defaulting on debt.

 (Reporting by Clare Jim; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
 ((clare.jim@thomsonreuters.com;))