China’s real estate market continues to deteriorate, according to the latest data. From 2020 to the present, 77 Chinese property developers have defaulted on their debts, with 30 listed real estate companies delisting. Among them, 27 have been delisted involuntarily, and many listed companies have either exited the real estate business or shifted towards lighter asset operations.
The China Index Research Institute released data on August 21st showing that debt defaults by property developers began in 2020, with a notable increase in the number of defaults in 2021, reaching 16 companies. The crisis intensified in 2022, with 44 companies experiencing defaults. As of August 2025, a total of 77 property developers have defaulted on their debts.
Since 2022, 30 property developers have delisted. Apart from individual listed companies privatizing their delisting, 27 have been delisted involuntarily. Among them, 14 are A-share companies delisted due to face value and continuous losses, and 13 H-share companies delisted due to difficulties in issuing financial reports and compliance with resumption guidelines, failing to resume trading after being suspended for over 18 months.
By August 2025, 20 distressed property developers have been approved for debt restructuring and reorganization, with the total debt restructuring scale exceeding 1.2 trillion yuan.
The China Index Research Institute stated that the market has been deeply impacted, greatly affecting the operations of property developers. In recent years, prompted by the need for proactive transformation and involuntary shell protection, many listed companies have divested their real estate development businesses. Examples include Lushang Development, Zhumei Group, Guancheng New Materials, among others, which have either withdrawn from the real estate industry or transformed towards lighter asset operations.
As of August 20th, among the 71 listed real estate companies on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges that released their 2025 interim performance forecasts, 45 reported losses, accounting for 63.4%, a 1.1% increase compared to the same period last year. The overall performance of listed real estate companies is generally poor, with individual companies reporting losses exceeding billions of yuan.