SHIMAO Property Holdings Ltd, the Chinese developer controlled by billionaire Xu Rongmao, said 2007 profit rose 80 percent as it sold more apartments amid surging home prices in the world's most populous nation.

Net income rose to 4.1 billion yuan (US$586 million), or 1.26 yuan a share, from 2.28 billion yuan, or 0.85 yuan, in 2006, the Hong Kong-listed company said yesterday in a statement to the city's stock exchange.

Sales rose 34 percent to 9.28 billion yuan.

Chinese developers may face slowing growth after the government sought to curb home prices by reducing lending. Home sales volumes fell in most Chinese cities in the first quarter. Shanghai-based Shimao's stock has dropped 29 percent this year, after jumping 95 percent in the first 10 months of 2007.

"We anticipate a period of consolidation for the domestic property market given tightened money supply," Xu told reporters in a briefing in Hong Kong yesterday. Shimao shares rose 1 percent to close at HK$13.54 in Hong Kong, after jumping as much as 7.5 percent during the day. The company posted earnings during the midday trading break.

Guangzhou-based Country Garden Holdings Co. has dropped 31 percent and Agile Property Holdings Ltd has fallen 39 percent in Hong Kong this year, compared with the 11 percent slide in the city's benchmark Hang Seng Index.

Shimao last week received a US$300 million loan from BNP Paribas SA to fund expansion in China, after yields on its bonds and credit swaps rose to records last month.

Excluding earnings from property revaluations, Shimao's profit rose 61 percent to 2.9 billion yuan in 2007, the company said. That is close to the 2.97 billion yuan median estimate from 16 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Property prices in 70 major Chinese cities rose 10.9 percent in February from a year earlier, according to the National Development and Reform Commission.