The year 2025 was arguably the most dismal year in the history of the industry. According to CRIC statistics, the number of real estate enterprises achieving full-scale sales exceeding 100 billion yuan has dwindled to just 10. Furthermore, only 7 developers managed an operational sales scale over 100 billion yuan. The number of companies with equity sales surpassing the 100-billion-yuan mark has shrunk to a mere 5.
Amidst immense market shocks, few developers have remained unscathed. However, as the industry consolidation nears its conclusion, a genuinely resilient group of players has been sifted from the sand. By examining various industry-wide data points, four developers have demonstrated remarkable strength during the downturn, earning the title of the industry's latest "Four Kings": - "Scale King": Poly Development - "Equity King": China Overseas Land & Investment (COLI) - "Operations King": Greentown China - "Profit King": China Resources Land
The "Scale King": Poly Development Years ago, Poly Development's ambition was to "enter the top three and compete for first." This goal stemmed from its long-standing position as the "perennial fifth" during an era dominated by private enterprises. However, a significant shift began in 2021 when Poly reached fourth place. The state-owned enterprise swiftly climbed to second place the following year and seized the top spot by 2023. Calculating from then, 2025 marks the third consecutive year that Poly Development has held the number one position in full-scale sales. While Poly's success is partly attributable to peers' struggles, sustaining the top scale position for three years during a downturn is no ordinary feat, especially in an era crowded with state-owned enterprises and emerging local urban investment companies. Poly's ability to maintain its scale leadership stems not only from decades of accumulation but also from strategic victories in recent years. Its strategy in the four first-tier cities has been distinct, with minimal presence in Shenzhen due to known factors, while focusing heavily on Shanghai and Guangzhou, and adopting a lighter touch in Beijing. Over the past three years, Poly's full-scale sales performances in these three cities are as follows: Shanghai—consistently ranking in the top three for three consecutive years, firmly remaining in the first tier of this highly competitive market; Guangzhou—achieving a scale of over 50 billion yuan for three years and securing the top spot for two years; Even in its weakest market, Beijing—it has maintained annual sales of 10-20 billion yuan, steadily holding a position within the city's top ten.
Notably, the combined sales scale from these three cities has never fallen below 110 billion yuan over the past three years. Recall that only 10 developers in the entire industry achieved a scale of 100 billion yuan in 2025. Although affected by the broader industry downturn and a contraction in Beijing, Poly's total performance in these three cities hit a three-year low last year. Yet, this does not diminish its achievement: With a performance of 111.668 billion yuan from these cities alone, Poly could have ranked ninth in the industry. Furthermore, while its Beijing performance was less stellar last year, Poly set a new performance record in Guangzhou and achieved renewed growth in Shanghai. Consequently, its overall performance in first-tier cities remained stable. This undoubtedly solidifies Poly Development's claim to the "Scale King" title. In an era where top developers often rely on luxury properties, Poly, a versatile contender, has also made significant strides in this segment. Last year in Shanghai, Poly Shibo Tianyue maintained stable performance, achieving both multi-billion-yuan sales and high-quality deliveries; projects like the "Waitan Xu" series in Yangpu Binjiang recorded Shanghai's highest subscription rate in 2025 and remained popular throughout the year. In Guangzhou, where its performance has been steadily strong, Poly created a miracle: In this first-tier city, often overlooked by the ultra-luxury market in recent years, its new super-luxury project "Yuexi Bay" set a 2025 record for the first-day sales, breaking 10 billion yuan.
How impressive is this achievement for Guangzhou? During Yuexi Bay's launch, its transaction volume and value for properties over 30 million yuan surpassed the combined totals of all other projects in the entire city. Frankly, it has been too long since Guangzhou witnessed a luxury property with such impact. Yuexi Bay's success caused a nationwide sensation. Although later, ultra-luxury projects in Shenzhen Bay also delivered impressive results, there is no doubt: The name Poly Yuexi Bay is now etched into the history of China's ultra-luxury real estate. Poly's victory also lies in its diversified product strategy. While heavily investing in iconic luxury projects, it has not neglected the upgrade and entry-level upgrade markets, dedicating substantial effort there as well. For instance, based on operational area last year, Poly still ranked first in Shanghai, a result supported by numerous popular projects in the city's suburbs. Projects like Poly West Suburb Hexu | Lingshu even became Shanghai's top-selling villa project in terms of online registrations last year. Success in these projects demonstrates Poly's continued significant influence in more下沉 markets, ensuring the longevity of its "Scale King" status.
The "Equity King": China Overseas Land & Investment (COLI) For many years, COLI has been a leader in the industry regarding the proportion of equity sales. In short, the "water content" in COLI's scale figures is relatively low. This advantage has become increasingly prominent as industry differentiation intensifies and many developers seek more collaborations. Since 2024, while consistently ranking second in full-scale sales, COLI has quietly ascended to the top in equity sales, becoming the industry's new "Equity King." Therefore, if comparing the "dehydrated" scale of developers, no one currently surpasses COLI. Overall, aside from Poly, which remains a contender, other developers lag significantly behind. Coincidentally, for two consecutive years, 2024 and 2025, COLI's equity ratio has been precisely 92%. Simply put, only 8% of the equity in all properties sold by COLI during this period belonged to other parties. This figure alone might not seem profound, but consider this: among the only five developers achieving 100-billion-yuan in equity scale, three have equity ratios below 70%, and one is at 79%.
COLI's high equity ratio reflects, to some extent, its confidence in independent project management underpinned by robust capabilities. In Beijing, COLI is famously known as a "lone ranger," rarely seeking external partnerships. It typically acquires land and manages projects independently, consistently holding the undisputed top position in the Beijing market. However, those unfamiliar with COLI's operations in Beijing might be puzzled by seeing two COLI entities on the 2025 sales rankings.
Beijing COLI Xincheng and Beijing COLI Real Estate appear as separate entities on the sales charts, occupying two spots in the top ten, but both belong to the COLI group. Unusually, they represent two different operational teams under COLI in Beijing. These teams, led by General Managers Zhang Xin and Ni Jiangang respectively, manage different regions and projects, jointly contributing to COLI's development in Beijing. Among them, Beijing COLI Xincheng has long focused on Shijingshan and Xicheng districts, primarily engaging in primary and secondary linkage development, and has recently expanded heavily into Chaoyang district. In November 2024, it secured a combined land parcel in Chaoyang's Jiuxianqiao + Xiaohongmen + Shibalidian area, valued at 15.3 billion yuan. Projects sold by COLI in these Beijing areas last year, such as COLI Ruili, COLI Yuhua Jiuzhang, COLI Huanyu Tianjing, COLI Chang'an Jiuzhang, COLI Chang'an Yuanjing in Shijingshan; COLI Jinghua Jiuxu in Xicheng; and COLI Wanj Jiuxu, COLI Chaoyang ONE, COLI Time Realm in Chaoyang, all belong to Beijing COLI Xincheng. Beijing COLI Real Estate, an earlier subsidiary active in Beijing, primarily focuses on Fengtai and Haidian districts. Luxury projects like COLI Lijin Mansion, COLI Lize Sanhao Yuan, COLI Fenghe Sanhao Yuan in Fengtai, and the emerging ultra-luxury project Anlan·Beijing in Haidian are managed by its team. Within Beijing's vast market, these two operational teams, calculated separately, still achieved impressive rankings. On the full-scale sales value chart, Beijing COLI Xincheng ranked 4th with 21.414 billion yuan; Beijing COLI Real Estate ranked 8th with 15.972 billion yuan. On the equity sales value chart, Beijing COLI Xincheng ranked 3rd with 21.129 billion yuan; Beijing COLI Real Estate ranked 4th with 14.816 billion yuan.
Combining the results of both teams, COLI would rank first on any chart. Particularly in equity sales value, with over 90% equity ratio, COLI generated a total of 35.945 billion yuan in Beijing during 2025, far surpassing other developers. While the "Equity King," COLI is not averse to collaboration. Especially for recent major projects, it has frequently partnered with other state-owned enterprises. Last year, several of COLI's collaborations, whether in land acquisition or project development, generated significant industry news—and are likely to continue making waves this year. In Shanghai, COLI partnered with China Merchants Shekou and CTG Investment to acquire the world's most valuable land parcel in Xuhui Binjiang Dong'an Xincun, worth over 40 billion yuan. COLI was the largest investor among the three SOEs. After acquiring this massive plot, COLI's equity land acquisition amount in Shanghai alone approached 40 billion yuan for the year, securing the top spot.
At the end of last year, Anlan Shanghai, managed by China Merchants, launched impressively. This year, another even larger parcel, where COLI holds over half the equity, is expected to enter the market. In Shenzhen, the jointly developed Shenzhen Bay·Yunxi with China Resources Land, as the first ultra-luxury project launched in Shenzhen Bay, caused a nationwide sensation with first-day sales exceeding 13 billion yuan, claiming the title of China's top opening sales champion last year. The massive Shenzhen Bay·Yunxi project has only released one plot so far. Additionally, projects like Anlan·Beijing and COLI Wanchao Jiuxu in Hangzhou, a strategic project for 2026, are preparing for launch... As more large-scale collaborative projects launch vigorously, COLI's equity ratio might see slight changes this year, but it will likely remain significantly higher than most peers. There is a预感: this year could be quite remarkable for COLI.
The "Operations King": Greentown China Greentown securing the top spot in operational performance is unsurprising. It is well-known that a significant part of Greentown's business focus, beyond its own projects, lies in project management and construction services (代建). During the current industry downturn, Greentown, renowned for quality and historically focused on the high-end market, has become one of the most favored developers. This favor is reflected in both end-consumers' steadfast preference for the Greentown brand and the preference of many "financiers" lacking confidence or capacity for self-development for Greentown's management services. The ultimate result is Greentown's unparalleled lead in operational volume across the industry. At first glance, Greentown's data from last year stands out among the top 10: It is the only top-tier developer whose operational sales金额 exceeded its full-scale sales金额.
Greentown's full-scale sales金额 last year was 153.4 billion yuan, but its operational sales金额 reached a substantial 251.9 billion yuan: This nearly 100-billion-yuan difference is equivalent to the scale of a top-10 developer. Furthermore, the 251.9 billion yuan figure is very close to Poly's full-scale sales金额. To clarify, CRIC's operational sales统计 includes sales业绩 from projects under a company's operational management, including those managed under代建 agreements. Thus, conservatively estimating, Greentown's代建 business alone generates annual sales业绩 of around 100 billion yuan... This is not an isolated occurrence but has been consistent for many years, culminating in 2025 with Greentown demonstrating the strongest operational capability in the industry—simply put, the largest volume of capital in the entire property market flowed into projects managed by Greentown. Frankly, Greentown has been a controversial developer in recent years due to various internal and external changes. However, the data confirms that Greentown continues to enjoy high market recognition. Last year marked Greentown's 30th anniversary and a year of concentrated product launches, exemplified by the Zhejiang and East China regions. As early as mid-last year, the Zhejiang region launched 23 new products across 8 cities simultaneously. Utilizing different high-end product lines like "Rose Garden," "Yuehua Series," and "Fengqi Series," it刷新ed industry perceptions across aesthetics, craftsmanship, and scenario innovation.
The East China region also launched seven major annual works simultaneously: Shanghai Chaoming Dongfang, Shanghai Yilu, Suzhou Fengqi Chaoming, Suzhou Qinbaihe, Nanjing Qinbaihe, Nanjing Yunlu, and Wuxi Yilu. These projects largely became local hits. For instance, Chaoming Dongfang, as the "previous land king" in Xuhui Binjiang, with an average price of 195,000 yuan/㎡, sold out on its launch day, paving the way for subsequent heavy investments in the area by developers like COLI.
Notably, if many developers rely on a few standout projects, for Greentown, almost every project mentioned can stand on its own as a flagship.
Supported by profound product底蕴, Greentown's projects currently exhibit exceptional overall quality, arguably the most outstanding in the industry. Recently, CRIC released the 2025 Top 100 List for Chinese Real Estate Enterprise Product Power, where Greentown firmly maintained its first-place position.
Furthermore, many projects in prime locations in cities like Shanghai are reportedly managed by Greentown under代建 contracts, aiming to maximize the value of these sites. Currently, Greentown's代建赋能 appears to have entered a stable phase. For Greentown, achieving scale of over 100 billion yuan from its own projects, supplemented by another 100 billion plus through代建赋能, allows it to thrive comfortably in the current climate.
The "Profit King": China Resources Land While China Resources Land (CR Land) may not appear the most突出的 in key annual data points currently available, the outcome for one more critical metric is hardly surprising: CR Land is most likely the developer to claim the "Profit King" title for 2025. On one hand, CR Land's profitability has been repeatedly proven. Looking back at the full year 2024, CR Land already led the industry with a net profit of 25.5 billion yuan, exceeding the second-place holder by approximately 10 billion yuan. In the first half of 2025, CR Land again topped the industry, earning over 10 billion yuan in net profit (11.88 billion yuan) within six months—this figure slightly exceeded the combined net profits of the "Scale King" Poly and the "Equity King" COLI at that time. Simply put, CR Land's current profitability rivals that of two top-tier SOEs combined. As widely recognized, CR Land's profitability extends beyond development业务. Its larger cash cow now lies in its recurring businesses. More astonishingly, CR Land's recurring business profits alone are sufficient to outperform nearly all peers. As early as last year, its recurring business profit contribution exceeded 10 billion yuan for the first time, widening the profit gap with competitors and essentially making it the undisputed champion in "earning capability." As a relatively stable profit source, recurring business acts as CR Land's strongest moat for profits. In essence, as long as CR Land maintains stable performance in its development business, it can securely retain the "Profit King" title for the foreseeable future. Including for the full year 2025, while official data is not yet released, the title almost certainly belongs to CR Land. On the other hand, CR Land's marketing prowess continues to make waves in the market. Taking Shanghai as an example, CR Land set several records: For instance, Shilin·Runyuan in Shanghai's old city center, amidst fierce competition for Shanghai-style风貌 villas, claimed the "Triple Crown" for Shanghai-style风貌 villas annually. Given that such villas are unique to Shanghai, it can be considered the "National Triple Crown for风貌 Villas."
Another example, Feiyun Yuefu in Xinyangsi, was Shanghai's only project in 2025 to sell over a thousand units, sweeping the top spots for sales area and unit volume in Shanghai, and also becoming the national champion for sales volume among projects priced over 100,000 yuan/㎡. Moreover, towards the end of last year, CR Land made a successful debut in Shanghai's HouTan area, with Yunqi Binjiang selling out on its first day, contributing the only genuine sell-out performance in Shanghai since September last year. With these multiple records, CR Land even became Shanghai's "Equity King" for 2025.
Notably, in Shenzhen, CR Land also created a major sensation with the previously mentioned "2025 National Opening Sales Champion," Shenzhen Bay Yunxi. While such high-quality ongoing projects may not immediately reflect in current profits, they are significant contributors to future profitability. CR Land has a history of such projects. For example, in 2024, the top-selling project in Shanghai by unit volume was CR Land's Zhonghuan Land Center Runfu in Baoshan Nanda. Looking ahead, CR Land has more in the pipeline, such as the two "Yun"-series products mentioned earlier in Shanghai's HouTan and Shenzhen Bay, both being super-large developments with greater potential yet to be realized. As mentioned, as long as CR Land performs steadily in development, retaining the "Profit King" title should not be difficult—and its performance has been consistently stable. It is worth noting that starting last year, CR Land initiated a major transformation in its marketing system. In November, it held the first National Run Partners Marketing Co-creation Conference in Hainan. By fully integrating internal and external partner resources and building systematic collaboration, it aims to break traditional marketing boundaries, potentially leading to positive changes. Recently, CR Land's official property and lifestyle service platform, "Xiao Run+," underwent a comprehensive upgrade. This platform integrates businesses across real estate development, brokerage ecosystems, MixC services, MixC commercial properties, and urban resources, providing customers with full-cycle services from property search and selection to purchase, delivery, and occupancy. A brighter future for China Resources Land is just beginning.
Conclusion The year 2025 was undoubtedly a profound "stress test" for China's real estate industry. Re-examining the "Four Kings" that emerged against the tide, while they all have SOE backgrounds—which inherently aids in weathering cycles—the era's harsh reality is that a strong background alone is not omnipotent. The ability to radiate unique brilliance amidst the storm and accurately grasp the pulse of the times is itself a mark of excellence. We welcome discussion: Which of the "Four Kings" are you most optimistic about in 2026?