Construction management services have turned into a "red ocean" — how can we break through?

On July 7, 2026, Puyi Digital Intelligence Research Center released the 2026 H1 China Real Estate Enterprise Construction Management Ranking, whose data shows that the growth momentum of the construction management sector slowed down in the first half of 2026, with only the threshold for the TOP10 tier remaining at a relatively high level.

Following the "explosive" growth of the construction management industry in 2023 and 2024, the market growth rate declined in 2025 but still reached a new high. In the second half of 2025, the construction management penetration rate in key cities hit 8.46%, a peak in recent years. The penetration rate stood at 8% in H1 2026, remaining at a high level for nearly three years, but it was lower than that of 2025.

After the industry experienced slowing growth, intensified competition and enterprise differentiation in 2025, the current construction management market pattern has gradually stabilized. There is a clear scale gap between leading enterprises and other players, and enterprises that failed to seize the growth momentum in previous years to establish their industry positions will face increasing difficulties in acquiring projects in the future.

01

According to data from 40 key cities surveyed and compiled by Puyi Digital Intelligence, the growth momentum slowed down significantly in H1 2026.

The construction management penetration rate in H1 2026 was 8%, down 0.46 percentage points from the peak in H2 2025 and 0.14 percentage points from the same period in 2025. However, it is still significantly higher than the full-year average of 2023-2024, and far exceeding the figures in the initial stage of the industry from 2020 to 2022.

Judging from the threshold values of the 2026 H1 China Real Estate Enterprise Construction Management Ranking, differentiation in the construction management industry is further intensifying.

The threshold for TOP10 in H1 2026 reached 5.96 million square meters, an increase of 1.14 million square meters from 4.82 million square meters in H1 2025, representing a notable growth rate of 23.65%.

Among them, the threshold for TOP5 reached 7.07 million square meters, a slight decrease compared with the same period in 2025. This is mainly due to the intensified competition in investment expansion, the continued bottoming out of the market, and the low willingness of clients to develop projects, which has led to a decline in the overall construction management scale and limited the growth of top-tier enterprises. In contrast, the concentration ratio of TOP6-10 and TOP11-15 enterprises is still rising, and competition in these tiers is extremely fierce.

02

From the perspective of the development of the construction management industry, real estate enterprises accelerated their entry into the construction management track starting in 2022.

At that time, listed real estate enterprises including Longfor Group, Zhongliang Group, China Fortune Land Development, and Seazen Holdings all announced the launch of construction management businesses in the second half of 2022, kicking off their rapid expansion.

Back then, "construction management" became a choice for many real estate enterprises to pursue asset-light transformation, thanks to its characteristics of high return, low leverage, and relatively low capital requirements.

Especially amid the obvious industry correction and the development dilemma of the "three highs" model, more and more real estate enterprises entered the market under the national "deleveraging" requirements for the real estate sector.

However, after the "explosive" growth from 2023 to 2024, the construction management industry has transformed from a blue ocean market into a red ocean market.

Judging from the ranking of newly added construction area in the first half of the year, the scale gap in construction management contracted projects is significant. Among them, Greentown Management firmly occupies the leading position with remarkable advantages, with a total of 13.52 million square meters of newly signed construction management area in the first half of the year, 83% higher than the second-ranked enterprise. The gap between 2nd and 10th place is narrowing compared with the same period, but the gap between TOP10 and TOP15, as well as between TOP15 and TOP20, is still widening.

It is worth noting that against the backdrop of the overall slowing growth rate, some construction management enterprises still achieved rapid growth in new contracts. For example, the contracted area of Seazen Construction Management, C&D Renewal Construction Management, and China Merchants Construction Management increased by 81%, 48%, and 24% year-on-year respectively in the first half of the year.

Against the backdrop of declining overall incremental volume in the construction management industry, a stabilizing industry pattern, and fierce competition among mid-tier players, how can enterprises break through the bottleneck?

Currently, the real estate industry is closely linked to urban renewal, which has received policy support from all sides. At the State Council's regular policy briefing in early June this year, it was explicitly stated that more than 250 billion yuan in funds would be allocated for support (for details, see The First National Special Plan for Urban Renewal! Over 250 Billion Yuan in Financial Support).

With the continuous implementation of urban renewal policies across various regions, the demand for government-led construction management is expected to be further released.

It should be noted that different from traditional development, urban renewal construction management projects are characterized by high complexity, long cycles, and diverse stakeholders, requiring enterprises to not only possess engineering management and compliance capabilities, but also build systematic competitiveness in industrial introduction, cultural preservation, capital coordination, and even risk resolution.

The ability to truly understand policies, integrate resources, and balance the demands of multiple parties will become the key for construction management enterprises to achieve breakthroughs in both scale and brand on this track.

As the construction management market shifts from a "blue ocean" to a "red ocean", the core focus of construction management enterprises has gradually turned to "specialized in-depth operation". With the overall industry pattern stabilizing, some enterprises still need to open up the market through differentiated features and unique core competitiveness.

The construction management track remains an indispensable strategic layout direction for enterprises. For construction management enterprises that have already achieved a certain scale, they need to face the challenge of white-hot competition directly; for new entrants, the difficulty of acquiring projects will continue to increase in the future.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Ding Zuyi Reviews the Real Estate Market", authored by the Editorial Department and Puyi Research, and published by 36Kr with authorization.