(Yicai) Aug. 21 -- China Vanke is poised to make its first half yearly loss since the Chinese real estate giant went public over 30 years ago, and many other listed Chinese property developers have said they too expect in be in the red as the country’s real estate market remains in the doldrums.

Vanke is bracing for losses of between CNY7 billion (USD981.1 million) and CNY9 billion in the first six months due to the shrinking scale of real estate development, a narrowing gross margin as well as investment losses, the Shenzhen-based firm said. A year ago it raked in profit of CNY9.9 billion (USD1.3 billion).

This is the biggest projected loss of all the developers to release their first-half expectations so far. If the forecast proves true, it will be the first time that Vanke logs a semi-annual loss in over 30 years of being listed in Shenzhen.

Nearly 50 listed Chinese property developers have said they expect to fall into the red in the six months ended June 30 due to sluggish sales and asset impairments.

China Fortun Land Development, which is undergoing debt restructuring, is anticipating its net loss to more than triple from a year ago to between CNY4.5 billion (USD630.7 million) and CNY5 billion, up from CNY1.3 billion a year before.

Sino-Ocean Group Holding, which is in the middle of offshore debt restructuring, said on Aug. 16 that it anticipates its losses to shrink by as much as three quarters to between CNY4.5 billion and CNY6 billion from CNY18.4 billion (USD2.6 billion) last year.

While Zhongliang Holdings Group expects to go into the red in the first half with losses of between CNY1.5 billion (USD210.2 million) and CNY2 billion, compared with profit of CNY18.6 billion a year ago.

Some developers, though, are predicting that they will make money in the first half, but much less than a year ago. Poly Developments and Holdings Group's net profit contracts 39.2 percent year on year to CNY7.4 billion (USD1 billion) while Greenland Holdings forecasts net profit to plunge 90 percent to CNY2.4 billion.

Losses have become common among property firms since 2022, and things only got worse last year, China Real Estate Information Corp said in a research note.

Amid this backdrop, real estate companies need to adjust their strategies, including to their investment structure, increase management efficiency and optimize their product portfolio to deal with market challenges.

Some 115 property firms are listed on the mainland, of which 104 are property developers and 11 are property management companies.

Editor: Kim Taylor