The sell-through rate has hit a new high in 32 months. Who have benefited from the warming property market in August?

The market in August that just passed seemed cold on the surface, but had distinct layers underneath.

New home transactions continued to decline, but the average sell-through rate of new home projects in key cities hit a new high in 32 months. The total land acquisition volume is shrinking, yet the land market has recorded the highest premium rate for the same period in nearly five years. Corporate sales data is tepid, while leading real estate enterprises' sales have bottomed out and rebounded earlier than the overall industry.

Putting all dimensions of the August market together, it can be seen that the adjustment of the real estate sector is still ongoing, but a structural recovery has emerged ahead of expectations.

01

Looking at the August sales figures, the total volume looks unremarkable at first glance, but the structure reveals the true picture.

In August 2026, the monthly equity sales of typical real estate enterprises reached 146.61 billion yuan, up only 0.5% month-on-month. However, this is a slight increase based on the continuous recovery in the first seven months, and the year-on-year decline of the cumulative 1.38809 trillion yuan from January to August continues to narrow.

Among them, the sales of leading enterprises have bottomed out and rebounded earlier than the overall industry.

In August 2026, China Overseas Land & Investment's monthly equity sales hit 14.7 billion yuan, up nearly 6% month-on-month, with a cumulative year-on-year increase of over 10%; China Resources Land's monthly sales reached 13.01 billion yuan, surging 29.3% month-on-month, leading the growth among leading real estate enterprises. These two enterprises steadily rank among the top three in the industry.

Among the top 10 enterprises, Greentown China's monthly sales surged 25% month-on-month, Greenland Holdings also achieved a double-digit growth of 12.5%, with a cumulative year-on-year growth of 12.7%.

Overall, the sales performance of leading real estate enterprises saw marginal improvement in August, leading enterprises of all ownership types delivered remarkable results, and industry concentration continued to rise.

From the growth ranking list, 29 enterprises achieved positive growth, among which 3 enterprises recorded a growth rate exceeding 100%.

Among them, central SOEs have the strongest risk resistance capacity, nearly half of them achieved positive growth with balanced distribution; local SOEs followed, 40% of them saw positive growth, and local state-owned real estate enterprises showed resilience relying on in-depth regional cultivation; mixed-ownership enterprises had less than 30% positive growth, facing overall pressure; private real estate enterprises had the most drastic differentiation. Although nearly 15% of them achieved a high growth of over 30%, nearly 80% recorded negative growth, and region-focused private real estate enterprises stood out against the trend.

02

In the new home market of August, the average sell-through rate of new home projects in 15 key national cities rose to 44%, up about 10 percentage points month-on-month, which is the highest reading in 32 months since 2024. First-tier cities rebounded across the board, with 65% in Beijing, 71% in Shenzhen, 54% in Shanghai, and 83% for individual projects in Guangzhou.

While the total volume is falling, the sell-through rate is hitting new highs. The only explanation is that real estate enterprises have concentrated their limited property value on a small number of high-quality projects, and the market recovery is structural and quality-driven.

In terms of the second-hand housing market, it presents the characteristics of "continuous decline from a high level, prominent resilience in first-tier cities, and continuous convergence of growth momentum". In August 2026, the total transaction area of second-hand housing in 20 key national cities reached about 15.35 million square meters, down 9% month-on-month and up 5% year-on-year. The monthly scale has declined for four consecutive months, but it is still basically at the same level as the average monthly level of 15.38 million square meters in 2025.

At present, the diversion effect of the second-hand housing market on new home demand is still significant. "Trading volume at the expense of price" and the active replacement chain are still the main driving forces supporting transactions.

03

The land market is the most dramatic segment in August. In August 2026, the transaction floor area of land was 24.07 million square meters, down 27% month-on-month and 46% year-on-year. The transaction amount decreased by 7% month-on-month.

However, from the perspective of market heat, the average premium rate in August was 7.3%. Since the market entered the adjustment period, the average premium rate in August of each year from 2022 to 2025 was no higher than 5%, and the figure in August 2026 exceeded the highest point of the previous four years by 2.6 percentage points.

This is mainly due to the concentrated transactions of multiple high-quality plots in first-tier cities. The 8 plots in Beijing and Shanghai topped the high total price list. The residential plot in Sijiqing, Haidian District was sold for 9.761 billion yuan after 130 rounds of bidding, becoming the land king with the highest total price in Beijing for the year; the floor price of the residential plot in Guangqu Road, Chaoyang District rushed to 81,400 yuan per square meter, refreshing the record of the block. Cities including Shenyang, Ningbo and Wuhan also saw residential plots with a high premium rate of over 20%.

But only a small number of plots are hot. From the perspective of land acquisition by enterprises, from January to August 2026, the total land acquisition volume of 100 typical sample enterprises continued to shrink. The new property value, land acquisition amount and new construction area reached 1.0766 trillion yuan, 54.1 billion yuan and 48.81 million square meters respectively, down 24%, 25% and 20% year-on-year respectively, with the decline narrowed by 8 percentage points, 7 percentage points and 5 percentage points respectively.

Poly Real Estate, China Resources Land and China Overseas Land & Investment all recorded new property value exceeding 100 billion yuan, and their land acquisition amounts all exceeded 40 billion yuan, ranking the top three. But even for leading enterprises, the investment-to-sales ratio is generally cautious, the vast majority of them concentrate their investment in first- and second-tier cities.

For the industry, the biggest significance of August does not lie in the rise or fall of a certain figure, but in the confirmation of the direction.

At the enterprise level, the recovery of leading enterprises indicates that the repair of high-quality entities has begun, but the overall differentiation of the industry is intensifying. At the market level, the coexistence of weakening new home transactions and record-high opening sell-through rates reveals that the recovery is essentially structural: high-quality projects are taking the lead, while ordinary projects are still facing difficulties. At the investment level, the coexistence of the land premium rate hitting a new high for the same period in five years and the shrinking total land acquisition volume of top 100 enterprises reflects the stark contrast between hot and cold in the land auction market.

The era of scale expansion has ended, and the stage of high-quality development of stock assets has begun. Going forward, whoever can deliver high-quality products and refine operations will be able to gain a firm foothold amid differentiation.

For home buyers, the market is pricing in a more rational way, and certainty is increasing. The property market will not recover overnight, but it is redefining itself in a healthier way.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Ding Zuyu Comments on the Real Estate Market", written by the Editorial Department & Puyi Research, published by 36Kr with authorization.