Developer Country Garden led its rivals in January’s land purchases
The company has been aggressively building up its land reserves to pursue fast sales growth as it attempts to topple rivals Evergrande and Vanke
Country Garden spent more than any other Chinese developer on land acquisitions last month as it pursues faster sales growth in a bid to catch rivals China Evergrande Group and China Vanke.
The developer, which is based in Foshan city in Guangdong Province, is the mainland’s third biggest property developer by sales but is aiming to topple Evergrande and Vanke to take the top spot.
Country Garden splashed out 10.2 billion yuan for 14 land parcels last month, including a 2.25 billion yuan residential site on the outskirts of Shanghai. The other plots are all in smaller cities such as Hangzhou, Nanchang and Wenzhou, according to a report by Tospur Real Estate Consulting.
Country Garden is fighting to become champion in home sales this year
Hangzhou-based home builder Greentown China ranked second with 8.4 billion yuan of land purchases, followed by Shanghai-headquartered Future Land Development with 8.2 billion yuan.
“Country Garden is fighting to become champion in home sales this year, ” said David Hong, head of research at consultancy China Real Estate Information Corp (CRIC).
The company has been aggressively building up its land reserves to pursue fast sales growth in the past couple of years, and the latest land acquisitions show the developer’s bullish outlook for the next few years.
Hong said home sales in Chinese second- and third-tier cities, which Country Garden has been focused on, remains strong because there are fewer restrictions on buying than in top-tier cities.
