Vanke profit rises 7% in Q1

Property developer China Vanke’s first quarter profits rose 7%, buoyed by home sales in smaller cities that are less tightly regulated by the government, Bloomberg reported. Revenue at the firm climbed 6% over the same period. Vanke, which is China’s largest property developer by market value, said that it would adopt a “flexible” strategy to cope with increasing regulation aimed at cooling house price growth in China’s larger cities. The company sought opportunities in smaller cities in the first quarter to avoid concentration in larger markets. “Against the background of property curbs, the whole sector will be affected, but Vanke will do better than other competitors because they have better exposure in third-tier cities,” said Du Jinsong, an analyst with Credit Suisse.