Real estate companies' rankings reshuffled again: Vanke slips, China Travel Investment becomes a "dark horse"

At the beginning of 2026, the “Performance Report” of the Top 100 Real Estate Companies’ January sales is released.

On January 31, the China Index Academy released data showing that in January 2026, the total sales of the TOP 100 real estate companies amounted to 190.52 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 18.9%; during the same period, the equity sales of these companies reached 132.14 billion yuan.

The top ten real estate companies by sales are: Poly Developments, China Overseas Property, China Resources Land, Greentown China, China Travel Investment, China Merchants Shekou, China Jinmao, Jianfa Property, Vanke, and Binjiang Group. Among them, only Poly, China Overseas, and China Resources each surpassed 10 billion yuan in monthly sales.

Compared to the same period last year, the rankings of real estate companies have changed significantly. Among the leading companies, the order of Poly, China Overseas, and China Resources remains unchanged, but Vanke dropped from 5th place in January last year to 9th place in January this year. China Travel Investment has become a “dark horse” in the short term, jumping to the 5th place in the overall sales ranking of real estate companies this January.

Among the companies following the Top 10, China Merchants Shekou, Jianfa Property, and Binjiang Group saw little change and remain in the rankings. However, Huafa Group fell from 6th place in January last year to 18th in January this year, while China Railway Construction dropped from 10th to 13th place, and China Jinmao rose from 13th in January last year to 7th in January this year.

Overall, the sales scale of real estate companies continues to shrink, with declines across all sectors. In January 2026, the average sales of the Top 10 companies was 9.33 billion yuan, down 11.6% year-on-year; the average sales of companies ranked 11-30 was 2.60 billion yuan, down 25.6%; and the average sales of companies ranked 31-50 was 1.03 billion yuan, down 21.0%.

Regarding the reasons for the year-on-year decline in sales in January, the China Index Academy stated that after the new policy on September 26, 2024, the real estate market expectations have somewhat recovered. Last January, the activity in core cities was significantly higher, with a high base, leading to a noticeable decline in January this year in comparison. However, the decline in January is consistent with the decline throughout last year.

The academy believes that the real estate industry is undergoing adjustments. Although the number of billion-yuan companies has decreased, the number of companies with sales of 50 billion yuan has increased. Industry competition is shifting from “scale racing” to “quality racing.” This has driven resources toward excellent companies, helping to reduce systemic risks and enhance the industry’s resilience and long-term toughness.

Looking at individual companies, some have seen sales rebound in January this year. CRIC reports that among the Top 100 companies, 32 experienced year-on-year growth in performance in January 2026, with 10 companies exceeding 100% growth.

This growth is partly attributed to large-scale staggered investments since 2021, which have led to a leap in scale.

In terms of overall market performance across various regions, the new housing market in January was relatively flat, but the second-hand housing market performed notably well.

CRIC data shows that in January, the transaction area of new commercial residential properties in 50 key cities nationwide was about 8.1 million square meters, indicating a relatively quiet market and the start of the off-season for new homes. Meanwhile, in 13 key cities, second-hand housing transaction area was about 8.1 million square meters, up 16% month-on-month and 33% year-on-year, with an average increase of 18% compared to last year.

“Many core cities’ second-hand housing markets have warmed up towards the end of the year, with significant transaction volume increases, narrower price declines, and some cities seeing a decrease in listings, all of which help stabilize market expectations,” CRIC stated. If second-hand housing prices can continue to stabilize and transactions remain active, it is expected to promote a “bottoming out and stabilization” of the market.

As the new housing market remains subdued and the second-hand market shows signs of warming, what are the key words for future real estate and policy directions?

The China Index Academy said that since the beginning of the year, the central government has repeatedly sent signals to “stabilize expectations.” Previously, the “Qiushi” magazine emphasized that “strengthening expectation management is of particular importance for stabilizing the real estate market”; the People’s Bank of China has lowered the interest rates on structural monetary policy tools; many regions have lowered the down payment ratio for commercial property loans to 30%; and measures such as debt issuance, buybacks, and acquisition of idle land have been implemented.

The institution believes that in the short term, approaching the Spring Festival holiday, real estate companies may increase marketing efforts, coupled with continuous entry of high-quality projects into the market, which could maintain a certain level of activity in core city markets. However, current market expectation recovery remains weak, and subsequent policies need to be coordinated between demand and supply sides to effectively reverse market expectations with stronger measures.

For real estate companies, E-House Zhiku states that by the end of 2025, 21 distressed companies have completed debt restructuring or made significant progress with restructuring plans. With policy support and their own efforts, more companies will resolve their debts, but how to convert the financial space created by debt relief into sustainable “blood-making capacity” remains a core challenge for these companies.

(Source: Yicai)