Builder China Vanke posts 5.95 billion yuan loss in Q1

Published Fri, May 1, 2026 · 08:06 PM

[BEIJING] China Vanke’s losses dragged on in the first quarter, as home deliveries fell, weighing on the embattled developer’s overall revenue. 

The company reported a net loss of 5.95 billion yuan (S$1.1 billion) in the three months ended in March, according to a Hong Kong exchange filing on Wednesday (Apr 29). That’s slightly narrower than the 6.25 billion yuan loss a year earlier.  

Vanke’s quarterly loss follows its combined loss of more than 130 billion yuan in the past two fiscal years, signalling persistent earnings erosion under China’s protracted home-price slump. While the pace of decline in China’s newly built homes abated in Q1, real estate values are still falling in most regional hubs and smaller cities where the majority of Vanke’s projects sit. 

The developer, which oversees more than a trillion yuan of assets, is one of China’s few major property developers to have so far avoided default. But it has been wrestling with a liquidity crunch for more than two years, and has in recent months turned to continuous bond extensions to buy more time. 

The loss stemmed mainly from declines in home settlements. Homes delivered tumbled 33 per cent by area from a year earlier, contributing to a 24 per cent drop in total revenues, Vanke said in the earnings. Chinese builders sell residences on contract and only book revenue after construction is completed.

Vanke’s earnings this year “could be hampered by inadequate property write-downs” in previous fiscal periods, Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Kristy Hung and Patrick Wong wrote in a note earlier this month. 

Vanke’s impairment provisions for housing inventory stood at about 27 billion yuan at the end of 2025, insufficient compared with its inventory of about 374 billion yuan, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. That means Vanke may still need to digest high-cost inventory and sell homes at a loss in the future. 

A 52 per cent plunge in Vanke’s contracted sales in the first three months is set to further reduce Vanke’s revenue and pressure its gross margin through 2027, they said. 

The loss comes at a crucial time for Vanke, which faces more than nine billion yuan of bond maturities in the coming months, with four onshore notes and two put options that could be exercised before the end of July. 

The builder has offered a one-year extension on two of the bonds, offering to repay 40 per cent of the redemption amount upfront. It earlier won enough creditor backing to extend payments on four bonds with similar proposals. BLOOMBERG