China Jinmao Chairman Tao Tianhai: The housing market rebound is expected, and structural opportunities still exist.

Ask AI · Which specific city areas does structural opportunity refer to?

21st Century Business Herald reporter Zhang Min

On the evening of March 24, China Jinmao released its 2025 performance report. In 2025, China Jinmao’s revenue was RMB 59.371 billion, up 1% year over year; gross profit was RMB 9.221 billion, up 7%. Net profit attributable to shareholders was RMB 1.253 billion, up 18%.

In terms of sales, last year China Jinmao’s contracted sales amount totaled RMB 113.5 billion, up 16% year over year. It ranked eighth in the industry, becoming one of the few real estate developers that achieved growth in sales.

In its annual report, China Jinmao said the company completed the phased goal of “staying alive.”

By region, last year contracted sales in first- and second-tier cities accounted for 96%. The contracted sales shares for North China and East China increased to 73%. Among them, China Jinmao’s contracted sales in Beijing and Shanghai both exceeded RMB 20 billion, and its sales in Xi’an exceeded RMB 10 billion.

On pricing, at the performance conference, management said that in 2025, the contracted unit price for residential properties was RMB 27,000 per square meter, up 24% year over year.

The annual report also shows that last year the average first-opening cycle for new projects by China Jinmao was shortened to 5.2 months, and the time for operating cash flow to turn positive was shortened to 10.4 months. “Three expenses” (selling expenses, administrative expenses, and financial expenses) decreased by 4%, 13%, and 9%, respectively.

Affected by multiple factors, including regional optimization, price increases, and improvement in operations, China Jinmao’s overall gross margin rose to 16% last year. Among them, for 43 projects accumulated since 2024, the average net sales profit margin exceeded 10%.

At the performance conference held on the same day, China Jinmao Chairman Tao Tianhai said that although the market is still in the process of bottoming out, structural opportunities still exist. For companies with excellent product capability, opportunities outweigh challenges. He revealed that China Jinmao’s overall available-for-sale value this year is planned at RMB 220 billion; based on the current average de-stocking rate of around 55%, the company expects its sales scale to continue to grow steadily.

Tao Tianhai also said that the industry is currently in the process of bottoming out and repair. After the market goes through another period of bottoming out and repair, a turnaround with falling prices stopping and rebound is worth looking forward to.

He pointed out that first-tier and core second-tier cities still have strong underlying demand. As the market gradually achieves stabilization and turns around, homebuyers will have a good opportunity to enter the market. In third- and fourth-tier cities, projects that offer good locations and good products still have opportunities.

Regarding debt, as of the end of 2025, China Jinmao’s overall debt balance was RMB 129 billion. Of this, the proportion of debt due within one year was about 22%, which is at a reasonable level.

The annual report also shows that in 2025, China Jinmao spent RMB 57.7 billion to acquire 21 land parcels. In the 2025 land acquisition ranking for real estate developers nationwide released by the China Index Academy, its land acquisition spending ranked eighth.

Zhang Hui, Executive Vice President of China Jinmao, said that last year, the land market’s capabilities diverged significantly: in core cities, land supply decreased while quality improved, and competition in land auctions was relatively intense. The company expects that the land market will continue to follow this pattern this year. In terms of land acquisition strategy, China Jinmao will still place risk prevention and safety at the top priority, ensuring that investment commitments are fulfilled 100%, while placing even greater emphasis on the importance of operations turning cash flow positive.

Regarding the overall property market, he said that last year the overall market performance was weak, but positive factors for the industry to bottom out were also accumulating. Some high-capacity cities are expected to gradually achieve bottoming out, stabilization, and rebound from 2026 to 2027.