(Yicai Global) Dec. 1 -- Shares of Ke Holdings jumped after China’s largest housing agency recorded a profit for the first time since the second quarter of last year due to rising pre-owned home sales.

The Lianjia brand owner's Hong Kong-listed equity [HKG: 2423] moved up 6.5 percent to close at HKD42.40 (USD5.50), following a 13 percent intraday uptick.

In New York, the operator of Beike platform [NYSE: BEKE] slipped 0.2 percent in after-hours trading at 4.40 p.m. Beijing time after closing 12 percent up at USD16.92.

Ke's net income tallied CNY716 million (USD101 million) in the third quarter, compared to a net loss of CNY1.8 billion (USD248.8 million) in the same period of 2021, because of an increase in second-hand home transactions, the Beijing-based company said in its earnings report yesterday.

But the future is uncertain as in the fourth quarter, the property marketplace expects its revenue to fall by 16 to 19 percent to a point between CNY14.5 billion and CNY15 billion (USD2 billion to USD2.1 billion) from a year ago.

From July to September, the firm's gross transaction value dropped by 11 percent to CNY737.1 billion (USD103.6 billion) because of disrupted recovery caused by new Covid-19 outbreaks in certain regions and weak demand for new homes amid real estate developers' liquidity and delivery issues. The downward trend was partially offset by a rebound in second-hand home transactions, especially in top-tier cities.

Ke's revenue fell 3 percent to CNY17.6 billion (USD2.5 billion). The segment of pre-owned homes made up almost 41 percent of that at CNY7.2 billion, up by 17 percent. That of new homes shrank by 31 percent to CNY7.8 billion. Home renovation services contributed CNY1.8 billion after the firm bought Shengdu Home Renovation. Revenues from emerging and other services increased by 46 percent to CNY801 million.

The agency operator closed some stores as the number of outlets dropped by 23 percent to nearly 41,400 as of Sept. 30. Some staff was let go as the number of agents slipped by 22 percent to 402,630. The number of monthly active users declined by 8 percent to 42.4 million.

Editor: Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi