China's 100 biggest property developers sold 2.54 trillion yuan of homes and other property in the first 10 months of 2026, China Index Academy said on Saturday, as October sales rose from September and the year-on-year decline narrowed by 0.9 percentage point from the January-September period.

The ranking matters for investors in Hong Kong, where China Overseas Land & Investment, China Resources Land, Greentown China, China Jinmao and Yuexiu Property are listed and all sit in the top 10. Shanghai-listed Poly Developments and Hong Kong-listed China Overseas Land are separated by just 200 million yuan at the top. The data also offer an early read on whether a new mortgage subsidy for first-time buyers is moving sales, after China's economy grew 4.5% in the third quarter.

Poly and China Overseas Land stay neck and neck

Poly Developments led the academy's table with 199.0 billion yuan of sales in January through October, ahead of China Overseas Land at 198.8 billion yuan. China Resources Land ranked third with 180.3 billion yuan, followed by Greentown at 160.3 billion yuan and China Merchants Shekou at 159.0 billion yuan.

The top spot has changed hands twice in two months. China Overseas Land moved ahead of Poly by 400 million yuan after the first eight months, before Poly reclaimed first place by about 300 million yuan at the end of September, Yicai reported at the time, citing the academy's data.

C&D Real Estate, with 103.4 billion yuan, became the sixth company to pass 100 billion yuan this year. Five had done so by the end of September. A year earlier there were seven, and in 2023 there were 14, according to the academy. The number of developers with more than 10 billion yuan of sales fell to 58 from 62 a year earlier and 100 in 2023.

Vanke climbed back into the top 10 with 57.3 billion yuan, edging past Greenland Holdings at 56.6 billion yuan. Vanke had slipped to 11th place at the end of September. Binjiang Group ranked ninth with 72.5 billion yuan.

Measured on an equity basis, which counts only each developer's share of joint projects, the top 100 sold 1.75 trillion yuan, the academy said.

What 'Golden September, Silver October' delivered

The academy's text gave no October-only total. Its January-September figure of 2.26 trillion yuan, reported by Yicai, implies October sales of about 277 billion yuan, by Capital Times' calculation. That is roughly 15% more than September's total of about 242 billion yuan, which Yicai calculated from the same data. A chart in the academy's report shows October sales still below the same month of 2025.

The academy tied the improvement to three things: the mortgage interest subsidy, a burst of project launches and promotions by developers, and a weak comparison base from 2025.

Under the subsidy, announced Sept. 29 by the Ministry of Finance, the People's Bank of China and the National Financial Regulatory Administration, the state has paid part of the interest on qualifying first-home commercial mortgages since Oct. 1. Yicai reported that for a home of no more than 120 square meters priced at 1.5 million yuan or less, with a loan of up to 1 million yuan, the maximum saving for a borrower would be close to 50,000 yuan in interest. The finance ministry said on Oct. 23 that the program was running smoothly, with the subsidy deducted automatically each month, the academy noted.

The benefit is uneven. About 35.5% of new homes sold this year in 107 cities tracked by data provider PTI met the size and price limits, Yicai reported, with the share far higher in lower-priced cities such as Chongqing.

The academy also pointed to demand-side easing that Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Chengdu introduced in late August, which helped well-located projects in core districts sell quickly. Even so, it said new-home sales in most cities were still lower than a year earlier, while existing-home transactions stayed busy in Beijing, Shanghai and some second-tier cities.

A new sales model and the year-end push

Developers are also adjusting to rules issued on Aug. 28 by housing, land and financial regulators that overhaul how homes are developed, financed and sold. The shift toward selling completed homes rather than presales has drawn the most attention. In October, Wuhan, Tianjin, Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Ningbo, Suzhou, Hefei and Chengdu issued local rules to implement the changes, the academy said. The academy said, in comments Yicai reported on Oct. 1, that the rules will tie up developers' cash for longer, with the effect showing from 2027.

Land buyers remain cautious. Residential land sales across 300 cities rose sharply from a year earlier in October after heavy supply in September, but the average premium over reserve prices was only 1.4%, the academy said, with most deals in third- and fourth-tier cities.

On Oct. 20, the National Development and Reform Commission said it would push through a lower rate on pledged supplementary lending, more relending quotas and the mortgage subsidy. Provinces including Anhui and Hubei issued about 23 billion yuan of special bonds in October to buy back idle land, according to the academy.

For the last two months of the year, the academy expects year-end promotions and the low base to narrow developers' sales declines further, but it said the market as a whole is still bottoming out and the gap between strong and weak developers will widen. With Poly and China Overseas Land 200 million yuan apart, December's final tally will decide which developer finishes 2026 as China's biggest seller.