Chinese Developer Country Garden Reports First Annual Loss Since 2007 IPO

The Foshan-based real estate giant says it was $885 million in the red in 2022

🧭Click here and get 7-day access to Caixin Global for free.

China’s property giant Country Garden Holdings Co. Ltd. reported its first annual loss since its Hong Kong IPO in 2007, highlighting the plight of the country’s builders amid a prolonged slump in the real estate sector plagued by sluggish home sales and a shortage of funds.

The Foshan-based developer logged a net loss of close to 6.1 billion yuan ($885 million) in 2022, a stark contrast to the previous year’s profit of 27 billion yuan, according to its earnings report released on Thursday.

Revenue slid 18% to 430.4 billion yuan, the financial report showed. Contracted sales reached 357.5 billion yuan, down from 558 billion yuan in 2021, according to previous filings.

In the report, the developer described last year as a “harsh winter” for the property sector. In 2022, residential property sales by floor area declined 26.8% year-on-year while sales by value dropped 28.3%. Residential property investment fell 9.5%, according to data released in January from the National Bureau of Statistics.