China property developers cash-starved amid gov't tightening (3)

Home prices in most major Chinese cities continued to rise month on month in February despite government efforts to cool the property market, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) last month.
Month-on-month price declines of new commercial homes were reported only in eight cities of the NBS' statistical pool of 70 major Chinese cities. Prices stood unchanged in six cities, while 56 other cities posted monthly price gains.
MAJOR DEVELOPERS SELL MORE HOMES
China Vanke said in its first-quarter report filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange that it sold a total of 3.04 million square meters of new houses valued at 35.5 billion yuan, up 145 percent and 135 percent from the same period last year, respectively.
China's top three property developers saw the area of homes sold from January to March up 153.4 percent year on year. Valued at 51.2 billion yuan, this shows a year-on-year increase of 102.7 percent.
Given that home prices in major cities are still rising, Zhuang said the government should stick to the current policies, build more affordable housing and expand home purchase restrictions and property tax.
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