HONG KONG: China Vanke, the largest mainland-listed property developer, expects to develop more affordable residential projects in the next few years, in line with the central government's cool-down measures in the sector.

"We will build more homes covering less than 90 square metres each in the next two years," said China Vanke's Chairman Wang Shi.

Vanke Waltz Garden located in Xuhui district, Shanghai [google.com]

"We hope that in two years' time the number of apartments of less than 90 square metres will amount to 40 to 45 per cent of the total number of apartments that we build," Wang added.

Wang's remarks came not long after Beijing launched a series of new measures requiring at least 70 per cent of all new residential property projects in China to be homes with floor areas of less than 90 square metres.

"The number of 90-square-metre apartments that we build will keep rising to 50 per cent or abovef the total in the near future," Wang said.

"We will achieve this goal by helping the government build apartments and units for people with low wages," he said.

Wang told reporters yesterday that China Vanke's co-operation with China's local governments to build so-called social welfare apartments and units had already begun this year.

"We used land of 20,000 square metres previously owned by China Vanke in Guangzhou and built upon it 300 residential units to lend to 1, 000 people, most of whom are workers with their monthly wage well below the average," Wang said. "We hope to do more projects like this later in Shenzhen, Shanghai and other cities."

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