BEIJING, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- Poly Real Estate Group, one of China's largest developers, saw strong profit growth in 2017 despite a crackdown on speculation.

Net profits attributable to shareholders rose 26.3 percent year on year to 15.7 billion yuan (2.4 billion U.S. dollars) last year, the company said Sunday in an unaudited report filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

The pace was faster than a 16.3-percent profit increase in the first three quarters last year.

The company attributed the strength to profits from projects carried over from the previous year.

Business revenue dropped 6.3 percent to about 145 billion yuan, while the total assets rose 46 percent to about 684 billion yuan.

The company's strong performance came amid slowing growth in China's overall property sales area, which increased by 7.9 percent year on year in the first 11 months of 2017, down from 24.3 percent for the same period of 2016.

Last year, the housing market cooled as local governments toughened measures to rein in property speculation, especially in major cities.