Vanke, the nation's largest property developer, plans to raise 11.2 billion yuan (about US$1.6 billion) selling additional shares, China Daily reported Wednesday.

The company plans to use 9.2 billion yuan of proceeds from the share sale to build 14 residential projects across the country, and to use the remaining 2 billion yuan to strengthen its capital flow, the newspaper said.

The real estate developer's August sales volume nationwide rose 18.3 percent from a year earlier to 4.82 billion yuan, the smallest gain since March.

It had made a net profit of 2.52 billion yuan in the first half of the year, up 22.5 percent year on year.

China's property market has seen price and sale hikes after February this year boosted by rising demand.

(Xinhua News Agency September 16, 2009)