CRIC: Land transaction area in the first two months decreased by 21% year-on-year, with active premiums on core plots

Cailian Press APP learned that CRIC released an investment land acquisition analysis report for Chinese real estate companies for January-February 2026. As of February 25, the total transaction area of commercial land nationwide through bidding, auction, and listing was 21.57 million square meters, down 19% month-on-month and 21% year-on-year; the transaction amount this month was 72.4 billion yuan, up 13% month-on-month but down 29% year-on-year.

Several land parcels were sold at a premium. A typical example is the first phase of the Guangzhou Racecourse land, which was sold at a super high total price of 23.6 billion yuan, marking a good start for the land market in 2026. Additionally, residential land in Harbin, Shijiazhuang, and other cities also achieved premium sales.

Typical companies’ land acquisition thresholds decreased significantly but with notable improvement

By the end of February, the average land reserve value threshold for 100 typical sample companies was 730 million yuan, down 20% year-on-year; the total price threshold for the top 100 companies was 350 million yuan, down 10%; and the building area threshold for the top 100 companies was 112,000 square meters, a 15% decrease. Data shows that all indicators have narrowed their decline, and as land supply in core cities “opens up,” land acquisition enthusiasm is expected to continue recovering.

The 100 typical companies’ land acquisition amount reached 205.9 billion yuan

In the first two months of 2026, due to the ongoing land supply restrictions by local governments and the Spring Festival holiday, most large-scale real estate companies did not initiate investment plans. As a result, the land acquisition value, amount, and area for typical companies all declined year-on-year.

Among them, the combined land reserve value, total price, and building area of the top 100 new land reserve companies were 205.9 billion yuan, 99.6 billion yuan, and 19.06 million square meters, respectively, with declines of nearly 50% in value and amount, and a 29% decrease in area compared to the same period last year.

It is worth noting that currently, real estate companies are in a bottoming-out phase of investment, but high-quality land in core cities remains highly competitive. For example, the Guangzhou Racecourse land attracted a total of 8 participating companies, including major state-owned enterprises such as Yuexiu, Poly, China Overseas, China Resources, and China Merchants. The competition was fierce, and after 100 rounds of bidding, 5 companies continued to compete. Ultimately, Yuexiu Property won with 23.6 billion yuan, a 26.6% premium, ranking second in Guangzhou and fifth nationwide. The residential sellable floor price per square meter ranked in the top ten nationwide.