P

roperty developers showed mixed results in the first quarter of the year, from modest growth to plunging profits, as a result of regulatory tightening, including new loan-to-value (LTV) ratios and higher interest rates.

Bumi Serpong Damai (BSD), one of the country's largest developers, saw its profit slashed by more than half year-on-year (y-o-y) during the first three months of the year, from Rp 1.3 trillion (US$112.84 million) in the January to March period last year to Rp 536.32 billion this year.

The company's first-quarter revenue stumbled by about 40 percent y-o-y to Rp 1.25 trillion, compared to the Rp 2.08 trillion generated in the previous year.

BSD corporate secretary Hermawan Wijaya said on Sunday that despite the significant drops in first quarter financial performance, the company had booked a higher organic growth compared to the first three months of last year, in which the company recorded skyrocketing revenue from joint ventures with Hongkong Land, Aeon Mall from Japan and local company Dyandra.

'Our organic growth during the first three months of 2014 is about 43 percent,' he said, citing the Rp 1.25 trillion of organic revenue BSD had reaped in January to March this year, compared to the Rp 877.54 billion recorded last year.

About 44 percent, or Rp 549.36 billion of BSD's first-quarter revenue, came from the residential segment, growing by about 70 percent y-o-y. The sale of lots was the second biggest contributor to BSD's revenue, with Rp 284.49 billion, down by about 15 percent y-o-y compared to the Rp 335.8 billion of last year.

The company's commercial segment sales booked the highest growth during the first three months of this year, rising by eightfold to Rp 191.58 billion compared to the Rp 23.9 billion in the same period last year.

Major property developer Ciputra Group also saw its business wings of Ciputra Development and Ciputra Property suffer plunging profits ' with the latter seeing its revenue free fall to Rp 33.72 billion from a previous level of Rp 197.5 billion and its revenue drop to Rp 251.21 billion from Rp 609.69 the previous year.

Ciputra Development, the key shareholder in Ciputra Property, saw its bottom line drop by 22.27 percent y-o-y to Rp 314.04 billion and its revenue plunge by 10.36 percent y-o-y to Rp 1.2 trillion.

While Ciputra Development doubled its residential and shop house sales to Rp 834.62 billion in the first quarter of the year compared to Rp 481.92 in the same period last year ' the sales of its apartments, condotels, lots and office towers significantly plunged year on year.

Agung Podomoro Land saw its first-quarter revenue and profit remain relatively stagnant from Rp 1.12 trillion last year to Rp 1.16 trillion and from Rp 272.4 billion to Rp 281.58 billion, respectively.

The company's marketing sales in the first quarter rose by 6 percent y-o-y to Rp 1.83 trillion. Its electronic shopping center, Harco Glodok in West Jakarta, contributed 32 percent to the total figure, followed by ' among others ' the housing complex Orchard Park Batam in the Riau Islands with 27.2 percent, and superblocks Podomoro City Deli Medan in North Sumatra and Podomoro City Extension in West Jakarta with 12.7 percent and 8 percent, respectively.

Asjaya Indosurya analyst William Suryawijaya attributed the lackluster performances of property developers in the first quarter to the decision of Bank Indonesia (BI) to reduce LTV ratio to help curb excessive loan growth and ease property speculation.