It’s one thing to ride the coattails of a booming industry like China’s property market was for most of the last three decades. But what separates an ordinary building from a modern high-rise is the ability to stand tall, even during a winter like the one now chilling the sector.
The last two years have decimated China’s property market, with nine out of 10 private developers now teetering on the brink of insolvency. The chill has rippled through to real estate brokers, forcing former heavyweight E-House (2048.HK) to restructure after failing to collect commissions from developers. Despite that, brokerage KE Holdings Inc. (2423.HK; BEKE.US) stands out as one of the few companies that managed to not only grow last year, but also to do so profitably.
The leading broker returned to the black last year with a 5.89 billion yuan ($815 million) annual profit, reversing a 1.4 billion yuan loss in 2022. Its revenue also rose 28.2% for the year to 77.8 billion yuan. And to show off its deep pockets, the company announced a special interim cash dividend of $0.171 per American depositary share (ADS) midway through last year, followed by a newly announced final dividend of $0.351 per ADS, according to its latest results released earlier this month.