Chinese developer Xinyuan sees revenues drop 26% in Q1

Firm behind Williamsburg's Oosten also sees profits fall 55%, amid slow home sales in China

Oosten Yong Zhang
From left: 429 Kent Avenue and Xinyuan's Yong Zhang

UPDATED, 5:20 p.m., May 15: Xinyuan Real Estate, the Chinese developer behind Williamsburg’s Oosten project, was hit hard by China’s slumping housing market in the first quarter.

Xinyuan’s revenues fell by 26.4 percent year-over-year to $166.7 million, and its profits declined by 55.4 percent to a mere $4.5 million, according to an earnings report released Friday morning.

The company’s New York-listed stock has fallen by 9.3 percent to $3.01 since markets opened this morning, and is down 30 percent (note: correction appended) since last June – although it has recently recovered from its low of $2 in February .

Xinyuan is the parent company of XIN Development, the developer of the 216-unit Oosten condominium project at 429 Kent Avenue.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

“We experienced a challenging first quarter as demand for our housing units were down due to an overall slower market environment,” said Xinyuan’s chairman Yong Zhang in a statement, adding that he expects earnings to improve in the coming quarters.

Xinyuan focuses on residential real estate development in China’s second-tier cities, which have been hit harder by the slowing housing market than gateway cities like Beijing or Shanghai. According to the Economist, home prices across China fell by six percent last year.

Correction: A previous version of this post incorrectly stated Xinyuan’s stock-price history.