(Yicai Global) May 12 -- Despite the easing of real estate curbs in a number of cities across China, sales among the country’s biggest developers more than halved in April from the same period last year as the latest outbreaks of Covid-19 deal a cruel blow to the country’s property sector, already in a downturn.

Thirteen major real estate companies, including Vanke and Country Garden, achieved combined turnover of CNY203 billion (USD30.2 billion) in April, diving 52 percent from a year earlier, according to their latest sales reports. Among them, only three had sales sink by less than 40 percent and eight saw sales more than halve. Sunac China Holdings, currently in a debt crisis, logged a 75.2 percent drop.

From January to April, sales at these 13 firms tumbled 41 percent to CNY899.8 billion (USD132.6 billion). Of these, only one had sales decline by less than 30 percent and eight experienced a slump of over 40 percent.

The latest outbreaks of Covid-19 have hammered sales, caused construction to halt in many places and greatly reduced consumer appetite for new property, several developers told Yicai Global.

“We were hoping that the market would pick up in March and April, but the recent developments can only be put down to bad luck,” an insider at a top property firm said. Once the outbreaks are brought under control, though, we have high hopes for the sector, he added.

Demand has cratered due to the pandemic. Sixty percent of respondents have put off their home buying plans by at least a year, according to a survey by real estate research institute Cric China. Only 20 percent are going ahead with their existing property purchase plans and 40 percent of these intend to buy in the first-tier cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou.

Vanke was the best performer in April with sales of CNY30.84 billion (USD4.6 billion), but this was still 38 percent less than the year before. The Shenzhen-based firm also had the most sales in the four months ended April 30 at CNY137.3 billion (USD20.2 billion), although this was a 40.1 percent year-on-year drop.

From January to April, only Vanke, Country Garden and Poly Developments and Holdings Group sold more than CNY100 billion worth of property, compared with seven in the same period last year.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Kim Taylor