City Developments (CTDM.SI), Southeast Asia's second-largest property firm, posted today a 76.7% rise in fourth-quarter net profit, helped by strong Singapore residential property prices.

CityDev reported a net profit of $176.7 million for the three month ended December, up from $100 million a year ago. The earnings beat the $131 million consensus estimate from Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

CityDev’s net profit for the full year rose 2.1% to $593.4 million, above the consensus estimate of $548 million. The company said it achieved its highest full-year revenue and second-highest profit since its inception in 1963.

Chairman Kwek Leng Beng said in a statement that the group expected to remain profitable over the next 12 months.

The company, which has a market capitalisation of around $9.4 billion, controls 53% of London-listed Millennium & Copthorne (MLC.L), which manages or owns over 120 hotels around the world.

Millennium & Copthorne last week reported a 20% fall pretax profit for 2009 but said business had improved since the end of the year.