Country Garden fell to sixth place in the ranking compiled by CRIC
Country Garden’s two-year reign as China’s biggest developer came to an end in 2023 as the Guangdong-based builder’s contract sales fell 53.3 percent year-on-year to 375.5 billion RMB ($52.9 billion).
After long beating the champion China Evergrande out of first place in 2021 and maintaining the No.1 ranking in 2022, Country Garden slipped to sixth place last year, according to data provided by China Real Estate Information Corporation. Evergrande, meanwhile, ranked 24th, with the world’s most indebted developer earning RMB 60.3 billion in contracted sales.
State-owned enterprises continued to dominate the top 10 by holding seven spots (including all of the top five), led by Poly Real Estate, which claimed the No.1 ranking despite contracted sales of 7.2 percent to RMB 424.6 billion.
Rounding out the top five in 2023 were China Vanke (RMB 375.5 billion), China Overseas Land & Investment (RMB 309.8 billion), China Resources Land (RMB 307 billion) and China Merchants Shekou Industrial Zone Holdings (RMB 293, 6 billion).
Spreading the Pain
Country Garden, the other private developers in the top 10 last year were Greentown China with RMB 194.3 billion, good for seventh place, and Longfor Group with RMB 173.6 billion, placing ninth.
Country Garden’s bad year did not limit Yang Huiyan’s charitable giving (Image: Country Garden Weibo)
Two SOEs, C&D Real Estate and Gemdale Corporation, took the eighth and 10th places with their respective contracted sales of RMB 189 billion and RMB 153.6 billion.
In all, contracted sales for the top 10 developers amounted to RMB 2.64 trillion, down 13.2 percent from the 2022 total. After the precipitous fall of Country Garden, state-controlled Gemdale saw the next largest fell to 30.8 percent, while Xiamen-based C&D enjoyed the biggest jump with 11 percent.
The 2023 list featured the same 10 developers as the year before, albeit replaced, with China Overseas Land & Investment and C&D moving up two places and Gemdale falling three ranks.
Fall From Grace
For Country Garden, the clouds began to gather last August when the developer announced a first half loss of RMB 48.9 billion ($6.7 billion) and acknowledged that “material uncertainties” threatened its ability to continue as a going concern.
The company confirmed that it had not adopted timely measures as China’s real estate market underwent upheaval and had not understood the risks associated with its disproportionate investment in third-, fourth- and lower-tier cities.
The writing may have been on the wall in July when chairman Yang Huiyan, the daughter of founder Yang Guoqiang, transferred 55 percent of her personal stake in Country Garden’s property management arm. to a charity founded by his sister.
Country garden went into default on dollar bills in October but he knew repay an 800 million RMB land note last month.
