Poly Real Estate Group Co., Ltd.(Poly), China's second largest property developer by market value, said Tuesday its January sales based on signed contracts soared over 140 percent from a year earlier.

In a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange, Poly said its sales income surpassed 3.3 billion yuan (487 million U.S. dollars) last month, while total floor space of sold properties, according to signed contracts, stood at 403,600 square meters, a rise of 120 percent year-on-year.

The floor space Poly contracted in January was down 1.2 percent from 408,400 square meters of December 2009. However, its sales income saw a 10 percent month-on-month rise from December's 3.02 billion yuan.

Despite sales rise, shares in Poly opened slightly lower at 18.56 yuan per share, down 0.4 percent from the previous close, before closing at 18.6yuan at midday, down 0.2 percent from the previous close .

Poly's competitors include China Vanke Co., Ltd.(Vanke), Gemdale Corp and China Merchants Property.

Last Friday, Vanke, the country's largest property developer by market value, post its total floor space sold in January surged 185.9 percent year on year.

Its sales totaled 6.26 billion yuan in January on the back of the 523,000 square meters it sold, a 83.3 percent jump from the same period last year.

The floor space Vanke sold in January was up 29 percent from 405,000 square meters of December 2009, while its sales registered a 14 percent month-on-month rise from December's 5.5 billion yuan.