Source: Bloomberg
Property stocks listed in Shanghai fell the most of any industry group on China’s biggest exchange after the nation’s largest listed real estate developer posted a drop in January sales.
The index tracking the shares of property companies listed in Shanghai fell as much as 2 per cent to 2,845.06 and was trading at 2,848.67 points as of 2:37 pm. China’s benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.4 per cent.
China Vanke Co said after markets closed February 3 that its January sales fell 39 per cent from a year earlier, followed by Guangzhou R&F Properties Co, a developer based in southern China’s Guangdong province, which said the same day its January contract sales plunged 57 per cent. Government limits on mortgages and home purchases led to a fifth consecutive monthly decline in nationwide prices as tracked by SouFun Holdings Ltd, owner of China’s biggest real-estate website.
“Property sales will surely do poorly throughout the first quarter,” said Cui Juan, a Beijing-based analyst at Minzu Securities Co. “Prices are just starting to fall and people are still staying to the sidelines.”
China’s home prices dropped 0.18 per cent in January from December, data from SouFun showed. The five consecutive months of declines made up the longest streak of drops since SouFun began tracking prices.
Vanke fell as much as 2.2 per cent to RMB7.62 in Shenzhen and was trading at RMB7.63 as of 2:32 pm. Guangzhou R&F fell 1.6 per cent to HK$8.05 in Hong Kong trading.
Beijing Capital Development Co, a developer in the Chinese capital, fell the most of any stock in the Shanghai Composite Index. It dropped as much as 5.7 per cent to RMB9.19 in Shanghai and traded at RMB9.20 as of 2:34 pm local time.
