March 6 -- China Vanke (000002,200002) posted a 20.72 percent year-on-year rise in transaction value to 7.34 billion yuan in February on a 31.15 percent increase in transaction area to 720,000 square meters, reports National Business Daily, citing a company filing.
Board secretary Tan Huajie attributes the annual increase to the low base last February.
On a month-on-month basis, the largest property developer in China recorded a 39.5 percent drop in transaction area, and a 39.84 percent decline in transaction value.
For the first two months of 2012, China Vanke recorded a 13.35 percent year-on-year decrease in transaction area to 1.91 million square meters, while transaction value fell 27.23 percent to 19.05 billion yuan due to the high base in the same period last year.
Since last August, China Vanke had posted month-on-month drops in transaction values for six months in a row.
According to World Union Research, home transactions in the first, second, and third-tier cities rebounded on a month-on-month basis during the first eight weeks of 2012.
The month-on-month drops in performance were due to the time lag between pre-sales and the signing of the contracts, said Tan.
The C.E.O. of China Vanke, Yu Liang, had previously said the company will overcome the sluggish market in 2012 through holding cash, actively sell its developments, and exercise prudence in the acquisition of land.
China Vanke obtained only one project to upgrade a village in Guangzhou for 1.5 billion yuan in January, and did not acquire any development in February.
Tan said the present moment is not an appropriate time to buy land due to the relatively high prices and the continuation of the real estate curbs.
According to Shanxi Securities, Vanke added construction area of 18.57 million square meters in 2011, down 37 percent from 2010.
Shares of China Vanke were down 0.92 percent to trade at 8.43 yuan per share at 10:42 today.