The company has embarked on house industrialization since 2006 and gradually expanded this pattern to some projects in Shanghai and Beijing.

 

"Once reaching a certain scale, the pattern will help us largely cut costs and thus provide better products," said Mao.

When striving for building green products, Vanke has been quite active in acquiring land parcels across the country since the very beginning of 2010.

On Feb 10, Vanke bought a land parcel in Shanghai's Pudong district at the cost of 894 million yuan, 233 percent higher that the starting price. And the company also grabbed another two land parcels in Wuhan and Shenyang in the same month.

"We will actively take part in land biddings this year, but we will never struggle to be the 'land king'," said Mao. "Besides, we will explore other methods of development, such as the construction of new-rural areas and enter smaller cities that are on the fast track to economic development."

Vanke has strengthened its exploration into second- and third-tier cities in 2009. Among the 44 newly added projects last year, 37 are located in these cities.

Robust sales and a conservative approach to land bidding also led to a healthy financial status. By the end of 2009, Vanke had 23 billion yuan cash on hand, with its debt ratio at 19.7 percent, down 13.4 percentage points from 2008, said the annual report.

"We believe we could obtain land parcels at a more rational price in those smaller cities. But that never means we will give up opportunities in the first-tier cities," said Mao.

In Beijing, a 49,000 sq m lot of commercial land is expected to be sold for more than 10 billion yuan in early March, a record for Beijing's land market. The slot, dubbed as "Zhongfu land" by insiders, is located in the capital's Central Business District, with the new China Central Television tower and the China World Trade Center in sight.

"We will also take part into the bidding, but such a project is not our ideal choice, as it is a purely commercial one," said Mao.

Related readings:  Vanke posts 32% profit surge in 2009  China's Vanke posts soaring sales in Jan  China to lead world real estate developers  China's house prices up by 1.5% in 2009: report

Vanke President Yu Liang told media earlier that the company will explore the commercial property sector this year, with a target of 20 percent in the company's overall business portfolio.

"In fact, we have had commercial equipment in almost each residential building we developed. And we take the commercial sector as a supporting facility for the residential project," said Mao.