Chinese housing developers target third and fourth-tier cities

Top five real estate developers in China have spent 842.1 billion yuan (US$129.4 billion) purchasing land in 2017. Affected by the regulations launched in first and second-tier cities, it appears developers have poured their money into third and fourth-tier cities, Yicai.com reported.

The top five are Country Garden, Vanke, China Poly Group, Evergrande Group and China Overseas Land & Investment Ltd.

Among them, Country Garden, Vanke, and Evergrande were also the top three sales champions in 2017. The three companies have invested 264.5, 184.4 and 131.9 billion yuan in acquiring land, respectively.

Most of that investment went into third and fourth tier cities. According to the China Index Research Institute, in 2017, land acquisitions by real estate companies in these cities increased 145% from last year, in terms of floor area.

This has propped up the average housing price in those cities, which also saw a 53.9% increase from a year earlier.

(ASIA TIMES)