SHANGHAI, March 12 /PRNewswire-Asia-FirstCall/ -- E-House (China) Holdings Limited ('E-House' or the 'Company') (NYSE: EJ), a leading real estate services company in China, today announced its selected unaudited financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2008.

    Financial Highlights
    -- Full-year 2008 total gross floor area ('GFA') of new properties sold
       increased to 4.1 million square meters from 4.0 million square meters
       for 2007. Total value of new properties sold was $4.5 billion, an
       increase of 14% from $3.9 billion for 2007.
    -- Fourth quarter total revenues were $39.0 million, compared to $50.4
       million for the fourth quarter of 2007. Full-year 2008 total revenues
       were $154.5 million, an increase of 28% from $121.0 million for 2007.
    -- Fourth quarter revenues from real estate consulting and information
       services were $13.2 million, an increase of 207% from $4.3 million for
       the fourth quarter of 2007. Full-year 2008 revenues from real estate
       consulting and information services were $49.8 million, an increase of
       480% from $8.6 million for 2007.
    -- Fourth quarter net income was $6.0 million, compared to $22.4 million
       for the fourth quarter of 2007. Full-year 2008 net income was $37.3
       million, compared to $41.7 million for 2007.
    -- Diluted earnings per ADS were $0.07 for the fourth quarter of 2008 and
       $0.45 for full-year 2008, compared to $0.29 and $0.56, respectively,
       for the same periods in 2007.

'E-House delivered solid results in 2008 despite operating under challenging market conditions,' said Mr. Xin Zhou, E-House's chairman and chief executive officer. 'In 2008, the real estate industry in China suffered its most severe downturn in recent history, with transaction volume in most major cities down more than 40% from 2007. Despite such headwinds, we were able to achieve increases in total GFA and transaction value of new properties sold as well as a substantial increase in total revenues. This was a result of our market share gains and stronger project pipeline achieved through enhanced brand recognition, stronger market leadership and strategic relationships built with major developers. We also achieved strong growth in our real estate consulting and information services revenue as a result of our continued investment in and successful promotion of our proprietary CRIC database system, as well as offering a variety of products and services to developers to suit their needs for better information and intelligence. Overall, our asset-light, low-risk business model proved particularly advantageous in last year's tough environment.'

Mr. Zhou added, 'Looking forward to 2009, we are confident in the prospects of China's real estate industry as well as our own performance. Along with its macroeconomic stimulus package, the Chinese government issued a series of policy measures in late 2008 to stabilize the real estate industry and encourage real estate purchases. Moreover, developers have been more proactive in recent months in promoting higher sales volume by offering price discounts. The market has responded positively to these government measures and developer initiatives, with sales volume showing a noticeable increase in most major cities for both primary and secondary property transactions. Overall, the increase in sales volume since late 2008 for both the industry as a whole and projects for which we act as the sales agent has substantially exceeded our prior expectations. We are hopeful that the recent pickup in real estate transaction volume will continue as the government strives to stabilize China's economy and the real estate industry continues to focus on volume as the cornerstone of stability. E-House will be a major beneficiary of increased transaction volume as it will help release the substantial project pipeline we built up in 2008.'

Mr. Li-Lan Cheng, E-House's chief financial officer added, 'We are pleased with the strong results we generated in 2008. We not only achieved strong revenue growth and solid profits, but also recorded healthy operating cash flows. Our results demonstrate that our pursuit of strategic relationships with major developers is a sound strategy that helped us achieve revenue growth in 2008 and build up our project pipeline for the future. Our strategic focus for 2009 is to execute our projects more effectively and efficiently. We recently undertook an across-the-board cost cutting initiative, which should help us lower our overall costs and improve our cost structure to increase the portion of total costs and expenses that are tied to our financial performance. With a strong project pipeline, efficient cost structure and a healthy balance sheet, we are well positioned to deliver a solid performance in 2009.'

Financial Results for Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2008

Revenues

Fourth quarter total revenues were $39.0 million, a decrease of 23% from $50.4 million for the fourth quarter of 2007. Full-year total revenues were $154.5 million, an increase of 28% from $121.0 million for 2007.

Primary Real Estate Agency Services

Fourth quarter revenues from primary real estate agency services were $20.2 million, a decrease of 51% from $41.5 million for the fourth quarter of 2007. Full-year revenues from primary real estate agency services were $90.5 million, a decrease of 10% from $100.5 million for 2007. The decrease in revenue from primary real estate agency services was mainly due to a lower average commission rate of 2.0% in 2008, compared to 2.6% in 2007. This was partially offset by increases in both the GFA and total transaction value of new properties sold. (See 'Selected Operating Data' below for details.)

Secondary Real Estate Brokerage Services

Fourth quarter revenues from secondary real estate brokerage services were $4.2 million, a decrease of 7% from $4.5 million for the fourth quarter of 2007. Full-year 2008 revenues from secondary real estate brokerage services were $12.1 million, an increase of 1% from $11.9 million for 2007. The quarter-over-quarter decrease was mainly due to reduced secondary real estate transaction volume as a result of slower growth in China's economy and deterioration of the demand for real estate purchases. As of December 31, 2008, E-House had a total of 115 secondary real estate brokerage stores in five cities in China, compared to 136 stores as of September 30, 2008 and 160 stores as of December 31, 2007, as a result of the Company's decision to reduce the number of stores in response to deteriorating market conditions and in an effort to decrease operating expenses.

Real Estate Consulting and Information Services

Fourth quarter revenues from real estate consulting and information services were $13.2 million, an increase of 207% from $4.3 million for the fourth quarter of 2007. Full-year 2008 revenues from real estate consulting and information services were $49.8 million, an increase of 480% from $8.6 million for 2007.