China property market digest, March 19-30

(Reuters) - Here is a look at the latest news, numbers and more from China's real estate market.
The property sector accounts for 13 percent of China's gross domestic product in 2011.

In response to soaring prices, Beijing has rolled out an array of measures since late 2009 to rein in property speculation and has won some success. House prices have fallen from record highs.

But China's vows to keep its property curbs in place have fuelled worries that they may further drag on an economy that is already cooling, and saddle with banks with more bad loans.

March 28 - Chinese developer Evergrande Real Estate said its 2011 net profit climbed 50 percent from a year earlier to 11.4 billion yuan ($1.8 billion) and will keep a sales target of 80 billion yuan for 2012.

March 20 - Guangzhou R&F said its 2011 net profit rose 11.3 percent to 4.8 billion yuan and set a sales target of 32 billion yuan for 2012.
Read more

Xinyuan Real Estate Co., Ltd. Receives Achievement

BEIJING, March 28, 2012 -- /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Xinyuan Real Estate Co., Ltd. (NYSE: XIN), a residential real estate developer with a focus on high growth, strategic Tier II & III cities in China, today announced that it has received two awards from a Chinese study group composed of three institutions including the Enterprise Research Institute of the Development Research Center of the State Council, the Institute of Real Estate Studies of Tsinghua University and the China Index Academy. The Company was recognized as a Top 100 China Real Estate Developer and a Top 10 Real Estate Developer measured by operating efficiency.

The criteria for these awards was based on real estate developers' scale, profitability, growth potential, financial stability, financing capability, operating efficiency, and social responsibility among other factors. Xinyuan was ranked 40th out of 100 among Top 100 Chinese Real Estate Developers and 6th out of 10 among Top 10 Chinese Real Estate Developers measured by operating efficiency.

China house prices rise, but momentum cools

Of 70 cities tracked in the survey, 56 reported gains in new home prices. That compared to a more modest performance in March that saw prices in 49 cities rising month-on-month.

New home prices in Beijing were up 0.1% in April from the prior month, while Shanghai reported a 0.3% rise, according to reports citing the National Bureau of Statistics data.

Guangzhou, the capital China’s southern Guangdong province, and Shenzhen, a fast-growing metropolis that lies just outside Hong Kong, each saw prices rises 0.7%.

Chinese millionaires are younger than their American counterparts

According Hurun, the average Chinese millionaire is 39 years old, a full 15 years younger than your average millionaire in the US. There’s around 960,000 millionaires in China, a land of 1.4 billion inhabitants. And while China is a central planned economy and pragmatically socialist, 55% of the country’s millionaires are making money the old fashioned way — they earned it in private business. Another 20% have entered the world of China millionaire stardom through the country’s hot real estate market, and another 15% or stock market gurus, Hurun said in the executive summary to its May 12 report. More surprisingly, 30% of China’s millionaires were women.

China has gone through radical economic changes since the late 1970s when economic reforms began. The country tried its own communist brand of capitalism and over the last decade has grown by more than 9% on average, taking millions of Chinese nationals out of poverty, and millions more into the middle classes. Thousands of Chinese became millionaires in the last few years alone.