China Vanke Co Ltd, the country's largest real estate developer, said its sales last year reached 141.2 billion yuan ($22.7 billion), up 16.2 percent year-on-year.

According to a statement released late Monday, December's sales reached 14.1 billion, up 141.8 percent compared with the same period in 2011.

As China's property market is showing signs of a recovery, sales in January may increase, Tan Huajie, the board secretary of Vanke said.

However, in some cities the inventories of new homes still remain at a high level, and the market will still face housing inventory pressure, Tan added.

The sales of Vanke, China Poly Group Corp and Greenland Group — the three leading real estate companies in China — all exceeded 100 billion yuan last year.