Shimao Property says it has signed strategic agreements with China’s four biggest banks to provide up to CNY30 billion in mortgage loans to its customers in a bid to meet a 20% increase in sales this year. The developer’s underlying profit, excluding revaluation gains on investment properties, rose 66.8% last year to CNY7.31 billion. It reported 45% growth in revenue to CNY41.5 billion. “We expect Beijing will regulate the property market in those cities with fast growth in home prices through tightening lending for developers and mortgage loans,” Vice Chairman Jason Hui said. “With such a financial arrangement with banks, it will help to speed up our sales as our customers will manage to secure housing loans more easily.” The firm has raised its annual sales target to CNY80 billion this year, 20% higher than last year’s CNY67 billion. Hui said Shimao would not follow some developers in providing second mortgage loans to buyers. Some developers in Guangzhou have reportedly been offering second loans for 20% of the sales price on top of the standard loan for the first 70%, meaning buyers are only required to meet down-payments of 10% of the property’s price. After spending CNY29 billion to acquire 9.36 million square meters of land last year, Hui said the focus this year would be on selling properties to shore up cash flow, the South China Morning Post reports.