Dalian Wanda Commercial Properties cut its 2016 contracted sales target almost 40 per cent year on year, as China’s biggest commercial property group said it would stop developing and selling some properties in lower tier cities.

大连万达商业地产(Dalian Wanda Commercial Properties)已将2016年合约销售目标同比下调近40%。中国最大的商业地产集团表示将暂停在三、四线城市开发和销售部分地产。

The developer on Thursday said it expected a 39 per cent year-on-year drop in contracted sales in 2016 to Rmb100bn ($15.3bn), as it increasingly moves into property management.

该开发商周四表示，随着其向物业管理逐步转型，预计2016年合约销售额将同比下降39%，至1000亿元人民币（合153亿美元）。

The property arm of Dalian Wanda Group, owned by China’s richest man Wang Jianlin, said it would cease buying land for home and office developments in the country’s third- and fourth-tier cities, but would continue to build hotels and shopping centres.

中国首富王健林旗下大连万达集团(Dalian Wanda Group)的这一地产业务表示，在中国三、四线城市将不再购买用于住宅和写字楼开发的土地，但将继续建造酒店和购物中心。

Easy lending during China’s boom years has left lower tier cities — such as non-provincial or non-prefectural capitals — bearing the brunt of China’s slowing economic growth, with empty developments scattering the country.

中国经济繁荣期间相对容易的放贷，令非省级和非地级的三、四线城市遭受了中国经济增长放缓的冲击，全国各地散布着闲置的地产开发项目。

Presenting the group’s annual results, Wang Zhibin, Wanda Commercial Properties vice-president, said that China’s real-estate sector faced “large destocking pressures” in third- and fourth-tier cities.

万达商业地产副总裁王志斌在公布集团年度业绩时称，中国房地产行业在三、四线城市面临“巨大的去库存压力”。

Because of this, the company was restricting its activity in such cities to “asset-light investment properties” — it will not own the land or real-estate assets, but merely develop and manage the projects on behalf of third-party investors.

正因如此，该公司在这些城市把自己的商业活动限定在“轻资产物业投资”的范畴内——即不拥有土地或房地产资产，只代表第三方投资者开发和管理项目。

Wanda Commercial Properties’ revenue in 2015 rose 15 per cent year on year to Rmb124bn. Core profit attributable to shareholders, which excludes profit from capital gains on properties, was Rmb17bn, also up 15 per cent.

万达商业地产2015年的收入同比增长15%，至1240亿人民币。核心业务的股东应占利润（不包括房地产资本利得）达到170亿元人民币，也增长15%。

The group’s “asset-light” strategy includes last year’s launch of 99Bill — an internet-finance subsidiary of Wanda Group — which manages funds for investors buying into Wanda Commercial Properties’ shopping malls.

该集团的“轻资产”战略包括去年推出的万达集团互联网金融子公司——“快钱”(99Bill)，它为买入万达商业地产购物中心的投资者管理基金。

Local housing bureaux data collected by Wigram Capital, an economic advisory firm, shows that China’s third-tier cities have piled up a stock of residential property that will take an average of 3.5 years to sell off at current sales rates.

经济咨询公司Wigram Capital收集的地方住建局数据显示，按目前的销售速度，中国三线城市的居民住房库存，平均需要3.5年才能售完。

While inland regions are stockpiling empty apartments, the gains from China’s growth are accruing to big coastal cities, where property markets are overheating. Last month, Shenzhen’s house prices rose 57 per cent year on year.

在内陆城市大量住房空置的同时，从中国经济增长中积累的资本收益涌向沿海大城市，那里的房地产市场正出现过热迹象。上月，深圳的房价同比上涨57%。

Dalian Wanda Commercial shares — down almost 20 per cent over the past 12 months — closed up 1 per cent at HK$37.80 on Thursday.

过去12个月下跌近20%的大连万达商业股价，周四收盘涨1%，至37.80港元。