China Vanke Co and Evergrande Real Estate Group, two Guangdong-based developers, were crowned China's top home sellers in the first half of the year by value and by area respectively.

Shenzhen-based Vanke sold a total of 35.5 billion yuan (US$5.23 billion) worth of new houses between January and June while Guangzhou-based Evergrande registered six-month residential sales of 3.32 million square meters as they topped all other domestic counterparts, according to a half-year ranking released yesterday by China Real Estate Information Corp and China Real Estate Appraisal.

The two real estate information service providers tracked sales of new houses in 70 major cities developed by companies whose main operations are on the Chinese mainland. Homes built for relocated residents under urban redevelopment plans, however, were excluded.

"Most real estate developers in our Top 20 list for the first half of 2010, one by value and the other by area, managed to secure a year-on-year growth of around 30 percent though their sales dropped greatly compared to the second half of 2009," said Martin Ding, co-president of CRIC. "It is not easy for them to achieve such growth as the central government has introduced its toughest-ever measures since mid-April to curb housing speculation which damped buyer sentiment."

The harsher policies have significantly hit first-tier cities where sales volume dived between 70 and 80 percent over the past two months, industry statistics showed.

"Those who have paid more attention to the second and third-tier cities, or in other words, those with a more balanced strategy for development across the country, such as Vanke, Evergrande and Greenland, finally succeeded to secure notable business growth despite a really tough market situation," Ding said.

By value, 11 developers managed to sell homes worth 10 billion yuan and above during the period with China Vanke, Evergrande and Poly Real Estate being the top three.