China’s biggest developers slowed sales at the end of 2011 in preparation for the worst property market in three years amid government property curbs, Bloomberg reported. China Vanke (000002.SZ), the country’s largest developer, reported contract sales dropped 30% in December while Evergrande Real Estate Group (3333.HKG), the second largest developer, said sales in November and December were the lowest for the year. The National Bureau of Statistics announced yesterday that only two of the 70 cities monitored by the government posted gains in December. China’s top 20 developers posted an average 16% year-on-year growth in sales in 2011, according to Macquarie Securities. Daiwa Securities Capital Markets predicted that China’s home transactions will fall 10% this year while UBS AG estimated the curbs may boost supply to the highest in a decade. “If the government doesn’t relax the enforcement on the house purchase restrictions and mortgages by the summer, then we could have a crash in the housing market by the end of the year,” said Andy Rothman, China macro strategist from CLSA. Developers “intentionally” slowing down sales at the end of the year “shows that they are actually not confident of their sales this year,” said Peter Bai, a property analyst at China International Capital.
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