China Vanke profits jump 42% in Jan-Sept

BEIJING -- China Vanke, the country's biggest property developer, said on Wednesday that its profits surged 41.7 percent year-on-year to 5.08 billion yuan ($806.35 million) during the first three quarters of 2012.

Vanke's sales hit 96.32 billion yuan during the first nine months, slightly down from 97.08 billion yuan during the same period last year. But average selling prices fell 8.8 percent from the previous year, according to a statement filed to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

A number of residential projects developed by Vanke will go on sale in the fourth quarter, which will ensure the company achieves sales growth this year, according to Tan Huajie, Vanke board secretary.

Besides Vanke, some smaller property developers also reported soaring profits for the July-Sept period, suggesting an overall recovery in the country's property sector.

Profits at Tianjin Jinbin Development Co skyrocketed 124 percent year-on-year to 11.32 million yuan during the period, while Guangdong Wedge Industrial Co saw its third-quarter profits increase more than five-fold, reaching 17.84 million yuan.

Data from the central bank also reflected that developers may have passed through the most difficult time, as lenders stepped up lending to the real estate sector in the third quarter.

Financial institutions had 11.74 trillion yuan in outstanding loans to the property sector as of the end of last month, up 12.2 percent year-on-year, the People's Bank of China said earlier this week.

The growth rate was 1.9 percentage points higher than that of the end of the previous quarter.

Housing development loans have been the fastest-growing segment, rising 12.1 percent during the three-month period, up 0.8 percentage point at the end of the second quarter.

Property developers have felt the pinch in recent years, as the government took a series of tightening measures to rein in the runaway market, including a ban on third-home purchases and increased down payment requirements.

Thirty-one major Chinese cities recorded higher new house prices than a month earlier in September, down from 36 in August, data from the National Bureau of Statistics shows.

Vanke's shares rose 0.48 percent to 8.44 yuan at 11 am on Wednesday.