Ke Rui Real Estate Research: Typical real estate companies achieved a sales turnover of 123.42 billion yuan in February.

On February 28, 2026, a report released by the Ke Real Estate Research stated that due to the Chinese New Year holiday, the overall transaction volume of new homes in the top 50 cities in China remained subdued in February 2026. However, the cumulative transaction volume of second-hand homes in the top 15 cities in January and February reached approximately 15.09 million square meters, a slight increase of 2% compared to the same period last year. This month, both central and local governments continued to release positive policies, with Shanghai's "Seven Policies" at the end of the month signaling a positive trend in policies, which is beneficial for boosting market expectations nationwide. Due to the Chinese New Year holiday, the supply scale of real estate enterprises was at a low level this month, with typical real estate enterprises achieving a total sales transaction amount of 123.42 billion yuan in February. Typical Real Estate Enterprises Achieve Sales of 123.42 Billion in a Single Month In February 2026, typical real estate enterprises achieved a sales transaction amount of 123.42 billion yuan in a single month, with a total sales transaction amount of 288.87 billion yuan in the first two months. Performance of 29 typical real estate enterprises increased compared to the same period last year, with 9 enterprises experiencing growth of over 100% In terms of specific performance of enterprises, in February 2026, a total of 29 typical real estate enterprises achieved a cumulative performance increase compared to the same period last year, with 7 of the top 10 enterprises showing growth being small and medium-sized private real estate enterprises. Against the backdrop of the overall performance of real estate enterprises hitting bottom, these enterprises have maintained relatively stable operations. At the same time, some enterprises have seen a significant rebound in performance, with 9 enterprises experiencing a year-on-year growth rate of over 100%. Among them, benchmark real estate enterprise Zhongjian Yiping achieved a year-on-year growth rate of 114.5%, mainly due to its Shanghai Wai Tan Yuan Jing project contributing over 1.8 billion yuan in a single month, accounting for nearly half of the total sales amount. Under the backdrop of policy relaxation and concentrated demand, its scarce high-end improvement products achieved "sun-like" popularity. Policy Environment: Central government strengthens credit support, Shanghai optimizes home purchase restrictions to boost market expectations In February 2026, the People's Bank of China, the Central Financial Office, and other central ministries and commissions repeatedly stated that they would continue to strengthen monetary and credit policies to support the stable development of the real estate market. At the local level, 30 provinces and cities have intensively promoted new policies to stabilize the market. From the frequency of policy releases, optimization of the housing provident fund, urban renewal, and ensuring livable housing have become the focus of local policies this month. Shanghai's new policies at the end of February, including the relaxation of home purchase restrictions, optimization of the housing provident fund, and reduction of property taxes, have become the focus of local policies this month. At the central level, the focus is mainly on monetary and credit policies: the People's Bank of China clearly stated that it would promote the implementation of financial policies such as re-loans for affordable housing to improve the basic financial system of real estate; four departments jointly issued opinions to support the effective use of financial support policies for affordable housing in relocation areas with conditions, raise funds for affordable housing based on actual needs, and control inventory, improve supply, and implement differentiated policies according to different cities. The Central Financial Office stressed the need to work on both supply and demand sides, use monetary and credit tools to control incremental policies based on individual city conditions, reduce inventory, and improve supply. The Central Political Bureau has prescribed to continue implementing moderately loose monetary policy, strengthen the coordination of macro policies and reform measures, and solidify the financial basis for the stable development of the real estate market through credit support. At the local level, Shanghai's new policies on February 25 became the focus of this month. By relaxing home purchase restrictions, optimizing the housing provident fund, and improving property taxes on three main fronts, Shanghai has not only reduced the social security/personal tax annual limit for non-Shanghai residents buying inner-city homes to 1 year, allowing eligible non-Shanghai residents to purchase an additional home within the inner city, exempting non-Shanghai residents with a residence permit for 5 years from the need for social security/personal tax certificates, increasing the maximum amount of first-home housing provident fund loans from 160,000 yuan to 240,000 yuan, which can be raised to 324,000 yuan after policy stacking, optimizing the determination of loan eligibility numbers, expanding the scope of housing provident fund support to families with more than one child, and stipulating that adult children with household registration can temporarily exempt from property tax when purchasing their only home in the city. These policies are targeted at various housing needs for new residents, youth, and improvement-oriented groups, sending a positive signal in policy trends and playing an important role in boosting market expectations nationwide. Market Transactions: Low transactions due to the Chinese New Year holiday. March "Little Spring" is expected to bring increased market activity New Housing Market: In February 2026, the transaction volume of newly constructed residential units in the top 50 cities nationwide was about 6.75 million square meters. Looking at the performance of different tier cities, the transaction volume in the four first-tier cities was about 710,000 square meters, while the transaction volume in the 22 second-tier cities was about 3.39 million square meters. Due to the higher base, both showed a decline compared to the same period last year. The transaction volume in the 24 third and fourth-tier cities was about 2.65 million square meters, a 2% increase compared to the same period last year. Due to the low base effect, the market in third and fourth-tier cities had relatively small fluctuations and showed signs of stabilization. Second-hand Housing Market: In February 2026, the transaction volume of second-hand homes in the top 15 cities nationwide was about 4.97 million square meters, with a cumulative transaction volume of about 15.09 million square meters in January and February, a slight increase of 2% compared to the same period last year. Looking at the key cities, Chengdu had the highest transaction volume of second-hand homes in February reaching 1.08 million square meters, with an 18% year-on-year increase in the first two months. Cities like Xiamen, Suzhou, Ningbo, and Yantai experienced large month-on-month declines but minor year-on-year changes, and also showed significant growth in the first two months. Land Market: In February 2026, the transaction volume of land remained at a seasonal low, but land auction activity significantly increased. The total construction area of land transactions in the national land market was 21.57 million square meters, with a transaction amount of 72.4 billion yuan in this month, a 13% increase compared to the previous month. Influenced by an increase in the proportion of high-quality land in high-tier cities like Beijing and Guangzhou, the average floor price in the country this month reached 3,358 yuan/square meter, a 40% increase compared to the previous month. Looking at the market activity, the premium rate index significantly rose this month, returning to over 9% after 9 months. Not only was the highly anticipated Guangzhou Ma Chang land sold after a bidding war lasting for 9 hours and 243 rounds, but places like Harbin and Shijiazhuang also saw premium land auctions. Outlook for "Little Spring": February, as a holiday month, saw the real estate market entering a "off-season rest period" for new homes, second-hand homes, and land transactions due to the Chinese New Year holiday leading to a temporary lull in transactions. Demand pent up during the holiday season is expected to be released, combined with cities' efforts in relaxing restrictive policies, urban renewal, and acquisitions of second-hand homes, leading to a promising March "Little Spring". It is expected that there will be a significant increase in transaction volume compared to the previous month. According to our monitoring, numerous key cities will see a peak in new home supplies in March, which will lead to an increase in transactions. For example, Guangzhou will accelerate the pace of project launches in March, with 4 projects in the urban area having their first openings, doubling the new home supply, coupled with demand from schools driving both new and second-hand home transactions to a substantial increase; Wuhan will see a high peak in supply in March, with several new projects planning to launch; similarly, in Hangzhou, several entirely new projects are expected to enter the market in March, including the 2025 multiple land king projects, expecting a significant increase in both supply and demand in March due to the impact of high supply of new red and luxury projects on the market outlet, and the expected sales rate can reach 60-70%.