China's leading property developer Vanke posted a 24.9-percent year-on-year increase in net profit in the first half of the year, a company statement said Monday.

China Vanke said its net profit reached 9.12 billion yuan (about 1.32 billion U.S. dollars) in the first six months of 2018.

Revenue surged 51.8 percent year-on-year to 105.97 billion yuan in the first half, according to the statement.

Besides property development and services, Vanke also established rental housing as a core business in 2018, striving to become a leading global rental housing enterprise, according to the statement.

As of the end of June, Vanke's long-term rental housing business had covered 30 major cities, and over 40,000 units in operation.