The total sales of the top 100 real estate developers exceeded 2.5 trillion yuan in the first 10 months.

In the traditional "Golden October" peak season of the property market, what are the sales performances of real estate enterprises?

On the evening of October 31, institutions including the China Index Academy, E-House China R&D Institute, and CRIC released the sales performance of Chinese real estate enterprises from January to October 2026. According to statistics from the China Index Academy, from January to October 2026, the managed sales volume of top 100 real estate enterprises reached 2,001.63 billion yuan, and their equity-based sales volume hit 1,747.71 billion yuan; the total sales volume of the top 100 real estate enterprises stood at 2,537.06 billion yuan, with the year-on-year decline narrowing by 0.9 percentage point compared with that from January to September.

In this regard, Liu Shui, Director of Enterprise Research at China Index Academy, analyzed that this is mainly affected by several factors: first, the policy side has exerted efforts, and policies such as the "9·29" mortgage interest subsidy have effectively boosted home purchase confidence and lowered the home purchase threshold for rigid demand groups; second, the supply side has coordinated, real estate enterprises seized the window to centrally launch properties for promotion, and the entry of high-quality projects into the market accelerated the conversion of wait-and-see customers; third, there is the impact of the low base in the previous year. "However, the sales performance among enterprises is still diverging. Some real estate enterprises, relying on their steady capital chain, reliable delivery credit, plus high-quality land reserve layout in core cities and continuous polishing of product strength, are more likely to be favored by home buyers in an environment with weak market confidence, thus achieving positive year-on-year growth in sales."

The logic of industry competition is changing

Statistics from China Index Academy show that in the first 10 months of this year, there are 6 real estate enterprises with cumulative full-caliber sales exceeding 100 billion yuan, and 58 real estate enterprises with sales exceeding 10 billion yuan. Among them, Poly Development ranks first with 199 billion yuan; China Overseas Land & Investment follows closely with 198.8 billion yuan; Greentown China records 160.30 billion yuan and China Merchants Shekou records 158.96 billion yuan, while China Resources Land records 80.30 billion yuan, ranking third to fifth respectively.

"Market resources are further concentrated in a small number of enterprises with stable operation and outstanding delivery capabilities. The industry competition logic has shifted from competing for sales scale to comprehensive competition for cash flow, product strength and delivery certainty, and the industry is still continuously screening large-scale real estate enterprises," said Liu Shui.

Reporters from National Business Daily sorted out and found that high-quality real estate enterprises still show resilience. During this year's "Golden October", among more than 100 typical real estate enterprises under statistical monitoring by E-House China R&D Institute, 65 enterprises achieved month-on-month growth in single-month sales, such as Poly Development, China Overseas Land & Investment, China Merchants Shekou, C&D Real Estate, Yuexiu Property and so on.

Liu Shui analyzed and predicted that at the end of the year, real estate enterprises may increase promotion and property launch efforts to sprint for performance, and the decommercialization of high-quality projects in core cities is expected to improve marginally. Coupled with the low base effect of the previous year, it may drive the narrowing of the decline in real estate enterprises' sales, while the divergence of sales performance among enterprises will still intensify.

High-quality projects in some core cities are selling well

From the overall market situation of the property market, the enthusiasm of real estate enterprises to launch properties in October is still weak, and the transaction between cities continues to diverge.

Data from CRIC Real Estate Research shows that in October 2026, the transaction area of new commercial residential buildings in 50 key cities across the country is about 11.41 million square meters, with a month-on-month increase of 4.5%. It has achieved consecutive positive month-on-month growth in September and October, but the momentum has slowed down. The cumulative transaction area from January to October is about 115.65 million square meters, with a cumulative year-on-year decrease of 10.7%, and the decline is basically the same as that of the first 9 months.

On the whole, the stabilization and recovery of transactions in October is mainly supported by the volume release of second-tier, third-tier and fourth-tier cities, coupled with stock decommercialization under the background of supply contraction and the "Golden October" promotion window, and the bottom characteristics of the market have emerged; however, the repair of demand confidence still takes time, and the sustainability of the transaction recovery remains to be observed.

It is worth noting that under the resonance of multiple factors such as intensive policy support, scarce locations and product upgrading, high-quality projects in some core cities such as Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu and Hangzhou achieved hot sales in October. Typical examples include the Shanghai Putuo · Suhe Yan project jointly developed by CSCEC Dongfu and China Merchants Shekou, which achieved a subscription rate of about 534% at its first opening, and the Shanghai Greentown · Yuhaitang Phase III with a subscription rate of 371%; the second batch of Shanghai Poly Hongqiao Hesong · Jingyuan project recorded a subscription rate exceeding 221%; the Beijing C&D Yuexiu · Guanxi project sold out 587 units at its first opening; the Chengdu Poly · Tianyi project delivered an outstanding opening sales performance.

China Index Academy's analysis believes that most of the hot-selling projects benefit from the following factors: first, the continuous efforts of the policy "combined punches" have lowered the home purchase threshold for buyers and strengthened delivery certainty, prompting demand to concentrate on core locations and high-quality products; second, the total supply of high-quality new residential properties oriented to improvement demand in core mature sectors is limited, and the accumulated home purchase demand has laid a market demand foundation for the hot sales of the projects; third, the product strength has achieved intergenerational leap, most projects reconstruct the three-dimensional space of the community through "all-area upgrading", increase the actual usable area ratio by taking advantage of the dividends of new regulations, and form differentiated selling points with customer co-created house types, sunken courtyards, three-dimensional gardens and high-specification clubs; fourth, real scene delivery and pre-operation have become new selling points, turning "certainty" into tangible life; finally, the precise total price matching strategy has created cost-effective products.

Looking ahead, Liu Shui said that with the year-end promotion of real estate enterprises and the entry of high-quality projects into the market, the new residential market in core cities may get certain support, but the overall trend will remain at the bottom. The transaction of second-hand housing is also expected to maintain a certain degree of activity, and the price is expected to maintain narrow-range fluctuations.

This article is sourced from National Business Daily and is published with authorization by 36Kr.