Sino-Ocean Land Holdings, the largest property developer in Beijing, said property sales had increased sixfold year on year to a record 2.3 billion yuan (HK$2.61bn) so far this year.

The company's goal is 8 billion yuan in contract sales this year.

'The strong sales growth in the first quarter is mainly because of improving market sentiment,' chief executive Li Ming told a press conference yesterday. He said the growth was driven by the unleashing of pent-up demand from end-users.

Li disagreed that sales had been boosted by price cuts. He said he now believed home prices in Beijing would stabilise this year in light of tight supply, while other cities, such as Tianjin, Dalian and Shenyang, might see a moderate correction of about 5%

South China Morning Post