The net profit of Hong Kong-listed commercial real estate company SOHO China Limited hit 3.98 billion yuan ($597 million) in the first half year, compared with 599 million yuan last year, its 2017 interim results showed Tuesday.

The surge in net profits is mainly due to the selling of investment properties, SOHO said in a statement.

The company sold Hongkou SOHO of Shanghai in June for 3.57 billion yuan, at a unit price of 51,000 yuan per square meter, it said. And the selling price was 53 percent higher than its cost, which brought much cash flow to the company, the company said.

"This is our latest efforts in transforming SOHO China from a heavy-asset company to be a light-asset one, and also reduce our debt ratio," said Pan Shiyi, chairman of SOHO China.

The company's rental income reached 818 million yuan, up 17 percent year-on-year, according to the interim report. And the average occupancy rate for investment property under lease achieved about 97 percent, except for one center that just started leasing in Shanghai.

SOHO 3Q, the office space provider subsidiary to SOHO China, now has 19 centers in operation and more than 17,000 seats.

Its clients included some big names such as Sina, Mercedes-Benz and Meitu.

Pan said SOHO in the third quarter would expand to more cities with focus on projects of at least 4,000 sq m in size located in the core areas of city centers to increase scale and attract more young people.