KE Holdings Benefits From Rebounding Chinese Market in Q1 as Revenue Increases 61%

The Chinese brokerage and real estate marketplace operator KE Holdings has released a report for its activities for Q1 of the 2023 financial year. Highlights of a three-month period in which the Chinese housing market started to rebound include:

• Gross Transaction Volume (GTV) was up 66% to $141.5 billion.
• Net revenues were up 62% year-on-year at $3 billion.
• Net income stood at $400 million compared to a $98 million loss in Q1 of 2022.

KE Holdings owns and operates Beike, the largest brokerage firm in China and one of the most popular portal/marketplace sites in the country. The company's net losses widened to $203 million in 2022 as the Chinese real estate market softened.

The company's Chairman and CEO Stanley Yongdon Peng highlighted in a press release that Beike has continued to outperform the market throughout the downturn.

“We are pleased to see a strong rebound emerging in the real estate market in China along with improving macroeconomic conditions. During the market’s recovery in the first quarter of 2023, we significantly outpaced the industry in GTV growth of both existing and new home transactions."

Mr. Tao Xu, Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer of Beike, added, “For the first quarter of this year, China’s real estate market has staged a notable recovery, bolstered by favorable government policies coupled with the intensive release of pent-up housing demand from the pandemic."

Beike saw growth in all of its business segments in Q1 with Existing Homes GTV up 77% year-on-year and New Homes GTV up 44%. There was also significant growth for the company's renovations business which saw revenue increase from $12 million in 2022 to $198 million and its Emerging Services segment which saw revenue go from $68 million to $181 million.