After nearly nine hours of consecutive bid placings, Yuexiu acquired the final plot in Guangzhou's Zhujiang New Town for 23.6 billion yuan.
On February 25th, the first land auction in Guangzhou's land market in the Year of the Horse took place. The highly - anticipated plot south of Huangpu Avenue and east of Machang Road in Tianhe District (Machang Phase 1 Plot) was sold for 23.6 billion yuan. The winning bidder is Yuexiu Group, a state - owned enterprise under Guangzhou. The transaction premium rate reached 26.6%, and the equivalent residential floor price was 85,000 yuan per square meter, setting a new record for the floor price in Guangzhou. The total price is the highest since 2010 in Guangzhou's land auction transactions.
Other enterprises participating in the auction of the Machang Phase 1 Plot included Poly, China Resources, China Merchants, Zhujiang Real Estate, Guangzhou Metro, Guangzhou Urban Construction Investment, and Guangzhou Construction. A total of 8 real - estate enterprises signed up for the auction. The on - site auction process lasted nearly 9 hours, with 243 rounds of bidding.
Chen Xueqiang, the research supervisor of the Guangzhou Branch of the China Index Academy, believes that as the "opening act" of Guangzhou's land auction in 2026, both the auction duration and the number of bidding rounds of this plot have refreshed historical records, and the popularity far exceeded expectations. This auction is not only a "good start" for Guangzhou's real - estate market in 2026, significantly pushing up the expected regional floor price, but also will have an important impact on the subsequent market trend.
The starting price of the Machang Phase 1 Plot was 18.644 billion yuan, which has already set a record for Guangzhou's land auction. According to the plan, the total land area of the Machang Plot is about 194,500 square meters, and the total floor area under the floor - area ratio reaches 567,000 square meters. The land is of comprehensive use (including residential land, retail commercial land, catering land, commercial and financial land, hotel land, etc.). Looking across the country, there is no available land of the same scale for development in the mature CBDs of first - tier cities. The Machang Plot is a rare large - scale high - quality asset integrating high - end commerce, office, residence, ecology, and people's livelihood facilities in all formats.
In terms of development value, the Machang Phase 1 Plot is also one of the few benchmark projects in the country that can "drive the upgrading of the city's level with a single plot". As the last "treasured land" in Guangzhou's Zhujiang New Town CBD and the last piece of the puzzle in the world - class golden triangle of "Zhujiang New Town - Financial City - Pazhou", after more than 20 years of precipitation, the Machang Plot has officially entered the fast lane of urban renewal. Yuexiu Group officially estimates that after the project matures, it can contribute about 34.6 billion yuan to GDP annually, add 4.5 billion yuan in tax revenue, and create 60,000 jobs each year. The economic contribution ability of this single plot is rarely matched among the land parcels that have been sold in the country.
In the "government - led + state - owned enterprise land preparation + market operation" model adopted for the Machang Plot, Yuexiu was deeply involved in the early - stage primary land preparation. It is reported that after winning the bid, Yuexiu will closely combine with Guangzhou's 15th Five - Year Plan, empower the upgrading of the city's level through spatial reconstruction, create a new ecosystem for future urban functions, and further enhance the attractiveness of Zhujiang New Town to innovative talents and high - end groups.
It is worth mentioning that this plot not only requires the developer to hold a large amount of commercial and business area, but also needs to introduce a high - end and fashionable department - store operating enterprise, with a cumulative sales contribution of no less than 30 billion yuan in 6 years. There is a possibility of introducing Hualian SKP as the commercial operator. In addition, this plot also needs to build an internationally well - known five - star hotel and a hotel - style apartment of the same brand with an area of no less than 45,000 square meters, which places extremely high requirements on the developer's financial strength and comprehensive operation ability.
According to CRIC data, Yuexiu spent 10.6 billion yuan in Guangzhou's public market in 2025 to win 10 land parcels, ranking first in the industry in terms of land - acquisition amount, accounting for more than one - fifth of the total transaction amount of residential - related land in the city. Analysts believe that Yuexiu Group's successful acquisition of the Machang Plot at the beginning of the year is expected to further consolidate its resource and land - reserve advantages in Guangzhou and deepen its role as a co - builder of the city.