Evergrande Group Photo: CFP

Hui Ka Yan, founder of real estate developer China Evergrande Group, reportedly presided over a group marketing meeting on Thursday, asking to resume project sales and issue assessment tasks for staff as the domestic real estate market sees signs of improving since the beginning of this year.

Hui said during the meeting that it is necessary to do a good job in project promotion, resume the company's project sales, and assign assessment tasks for company staff, according to media reports.

Evergrande also released real estate promotion advertisements through multiple channels on Friday, involving a total of 458 real estate projects, covering residences, shops and parking spaces.

The move comes as Chinese authorities have signaled stronger efforts to stabilize the domestic real estate sector recently, with more supportive policies to assist both homebuyers and property developers coming out.

China will support the healthy development of the property market, which is still a pillar industry for the economy, Chinese Vice Premier Liu He said at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on January 18. 

The real estate sector accounts for nearly 40 percent of bank lending, 50 percent of overall local government fiscal resources, and 60 percent of urban household assets in China, according to Liu.

China is committed to stabilizing expectations, providing reasonable liquidity and relaxing restrictions that were formerly introduced to address overheating in the market, Liu said.

During the just-passed Spring Festival holidays, property sales already picked up in some Chinese cities. Data from Beike Research Institute showed that inquiries and transactions for secondhand houses increased significantly compared with last year's Spring Festival.

Transactions of secondhand houses in the key 50 cities increased by 57 percent during this year's Spring Festival. According to Beike, the volume of transactions in secondhand buildings in the first 27 days of January was basically close to the whole month of December last year, and average daily transactions in Beijing, Langfang, Tianjin and Shijiazhuang increased by 38 percent in January.

Global Times