MANILA, Philippines -- Tycoon Henry Sy?s residential property arm SM Development Corp. reported a stellar growth in net profits in the first nine months of 2009 from the same period in 2008, on the back of strong property sales alongside renewed confidence in the financial markets.

SMDC disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Tuesday that consolidated net profit posted in January to September surged by 5,900 percent to P1.4 billion from only P23 million in the same period in 2008.

This was attributed by the company to the "strong market reception of its residential units and higher completion rates of various projects."

The company posted an 83 percent increase in its net income from real estate operations worth P1.1 billion for the first nine months over a year ago.

Realized revenues from real estate sales during the period increased by 30 percent year-on-year to P3.7 billion. This resulted in an expanded consolidated net income margin of 37 percent. For the same period, SMDC doubled its number of sales reservations for residential units to 3,708.

SMDC president Roger Cabuñag said: "Our efforts to strengthen our real estate sales operations and our keen monitoring of construction costs are paying off through higher margins and better operational efficiencies.

"With these positive developments, we remain bullish in our business operations this year."