Chinese real estate enterprises are still struggling. The latest data shows that in May this year, the sales of the top 100 real estate companies decreased by 17.3% year-on-year, and the cumulative decline from January to May was 10.8%, with both decreases widening.
On May 31st, a report from the China Index Research Institute showed that the sales of the top 100 real estate companies were weak in May.
From January to May, the total sales of the top 100 real estate companies decreased by 10.8% year-on-year, with the decline in May alone reaching 17.3%, widening by 0.6 percentage points compared to the January to April period. In May, the decline was 0.5 percentage points larger than in April.
Sales of real estate companies from all sectors declined from January to May. The average sales amount of the top 10 real estate companies was 707.5 billion yuan, a 9.5% decrease from the previous year; the average sales of the top 11-30 real estate companies was 175.0 billion yuan, down by 13.5%; the average sales of the top 31-50 real estate companies was 86.8 billion yuan, a 3.6% decrease; and the average sales of the top 51-100 real estate companies was 42.5 billion yuan, down by 15.6%.
Additionally, data released by the real estate research firm Ke Rui on the same day showed that in May, the top 100 real estate companies achieved a sales turnover of 294.58 billion yuan, an increase of 3.5% from the previous month but a decrease of 8.6% year-on-year.
From January to May, the cumulative sales turnover of the top 100 real estate companies reached 1.31275 trillion yuan, with a widened year-on-year decline of 7.1%, equivalent to 27% of the same period in 2021.
Historical data from Ke Rui shows that in the first four months of this year, the monthly sales of the top 100 real estate companies were 227.61 billion yuan, 188.12 billion yuan, 317.76 billion yuan, and 284.68 billion yuan, respectively.
According to a report by Finance Net citing the data, comparing the monthly sales figures from the first five months of 2025 with the same period in 2024, only February saw an increase of 1.2%, while January, March, and April witnessed declines of 3.2%, 11.3%, and 8.7%, respectively. The increase in February was attributed to the timing difference of the Chinese New Year holiday.
The current real estate market is at its lowest point in nearly five years. Due to the positive impact of February’s sales growth, the year-on-year decline in cumulative performance of the top 100 real estate companies narrowed by 2.0 percentage points from January to February. However, this decline expanded month by month, with cumulative sales declines of 5.9% and 6.7% in the first three and four months, respectively.
A senior sales executive of a leading real estate company told Finance News that most projects in third and fourth-tier cities are severely oversupplied, with unsold inventory piling up. “Especially in cities experiencing net outflows of population, each household owns two to three properties, and children can inherit properties easily.” In a declining real estate market, residential properties are losing their investment value, leading to weak sales as an inevitable outcome.