Developers' profit hopes boosted by robust sales

Strong sales have raised Chinese property developers' expectations on their 2012 earnings, with 60 percent of listed developers who have posted preliminary earnings estimates saying they expect to see profit growth last year.

A total of 42 developers listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges have announced their preliminary earnings estimates, with 25 of them saying they will see profit growth year-on-year, nine expecting a revenue decline, six predicting a loss for the first time, and two saying they will continue to lose money, the Shanghai-based China Business News reported on Tuesday.

Although major developers, including China Vanke Co Ltd, Poly Real Estate Group and China Overseas Land and Investment Ltd, registered record-high revenue in 2012, their profit margins declined due to falling transaction prices, analysts said.

Average properties on China Vanke's books sold for 10,901 yuan ($1,731) per square meter in 2012, down 4 percent year-on-year and a drop of 10 percent on 2010. Residential property prices at Guangzhou-based Evergrande Real Estate Group dropped about 10 percent year-on-year to 5,962 yuan per square meter.

According to data compiled by the China Index Academy, a property research organization under online real estate firm Soufun, prices of residential properties developed by China's top 50 developers averaged 10,006 yuan per square meter in 2012, a drop of about 9 percent year-on-year.