Hongkong Land Says Q1 Contracted Sales Fell 36% Amid China Market Slide

Hongkong Land warned Thursday that its first-half underlying earnings would be “significantly lower” than in the year-earlier period, primarily due to deteriorating market conditions in mainland China’s residential sector.

The developer’s attributable interest in contracted sales in the first quarter was $262 million, down 36 percent compared with the equivalent period in 2023, according to an interim management statement. Full-year contracted sales are expected to be lower than 2023 levels, with profit margins hit by selling price cuts across a number of projects, Hongkong Land said.

The Jardine Matheson-controlled builder is undertaking an “extensive review” of its projects, whose investment carrying value will be deemed impaired when projected sales prices drop below development costs.

“Although the review is ongoing, this is expected to result in a non-cash impairment charge of $200 million to $300 million which will be reflected in the first half results to 30th June 2024,” Hongkong Land said.

Central Vacancy Eases

The downbeat guidance comes after Hongkong Land reported an attributable loss of $582 million for 2023, reversing a year-earlier profit of $203 million, as valuations continued to decline in the group’s hometown office portfolio.

Underlying profit, which ignores the fair-value change of investment properties, fell 5 percent to $734 million last year as the biggest landlord in Hong Kong’s prime Central district also felt the impact from lower profits at its development projects.

The regional developer said Thursday that its underlying profit in the first quarter of 2024 was in line with year-earlier levels as contributions from investment and development properties remained broadly unchanged.

In terms of investment properties, improved performance from luxury retail assets regionwide and Singapore offices offset lower contributions from the Hong Kong office portfolio, a set of 12 interconnected commercial buildings at the heart of the financial district in Central.

Physical vacancy in the Hong Kong office portfolio eased to 7.1 percent from 7.4 percent at the end of 2023. On a committed basis, vacancy was 6.6 percent at the end of March, versus 10.6 percent for Central’s overall Grade A office market.

City-State Stability

In Singapore, rental reversions continued to be positive in the first quarter amid tight supply and flight-to-quality demand, the developer said.

Physical vacancy in the city-state office portfolio, which is concentrated in the Marina Bay Area, was 2 percent, barely changed from 1.9 percent at the end of 2023. On a committed basis, vacancy stood at 1 percent, compared with 0.9 percent at the end of last year.

Hongkong Land said the ongoing project review would have no material impact on the group’s “strong” financial position, with gearing at 16 percent and committed liquidity (cash and unused committed borrowing facilities) totalling $3.1 billion at the end of the March.