Vanke sees annual sales revenue soar

China Vanke Co, China's largest property developer by revenue, said on Saturday that sales revenue in 2013 rose 21 percent to 170.9 billion yuan ($28.2 billion).

In terms of floor space, Vanke's sales totaled 14.9 million square meters, up 15 percent from a year earlier, the Shenzhen-based developer said in a statement.

Property demand in first-tier and major coastal cities was booming, but as markets there had already picked up from 2012, a higher comparison base made the year-on-year gain in 2013 moderate, said Tan Huajie, board secretary at China Vanke.

In many third- and fourth-tier cities, while sales had improved from 2012, there were plenty of construction starts, and the massive supply has kept these markets in an inventory destocking mode, Tan added.

Supply and demand in most first-tier and coastal cities maintained a "reasonable" condition, with an average 10.4 months if the current inventory was exhausted, said Tan. The only exception was in Beijing, where demand exceedingly overtakes supply.

The number of developers with annual sales of more than 100 billion yuan rose to seven, up from three in 2012, according to data provider China Real Estate Information Corp.

The CRIC said Vanke and Shanghai-based Greenland Group are expected to reach 200 billion yuan in sales in 2014.