Poly Developments, winning "too easily"

Author/Shanghai Jingshen Yan Minghui

In the second land auction of 2026, there was only one plot, yet the excitement reached a new high, with a consortium of China Resources, Poly Developments, and Jinao gathering together.

During the bidding process, China Resources & Xinchangning and Jinao continually raised their bids over 40 rounds, with Poly Developments ultimately securing the deal with their final offer.

The total price was 592.175 million yuan, with a transaction floor price of 77,697 yuan/sqm and a premium rate of 6.43%.

This pure residential land in Changning Inner Ring consists of two sub-plots, E1-17 and E1-21, with a total transfer area of approximately 29,000 sqm and a planned building area of about 76,200 sqm. The starting total price was 5.56 billion yuan, with a starting floor price of about 73,000 yuan/sqm.

Specifically:

E1-21 plot: land area of 24,508.81 sqm, floor area ratio of 2.67, height limit of 80 meters, including 4,000 sqm of community public service facilities;

E1-17 plot: land area of 4,490.52 sqm, floor area ratio of 2.4, height limit of 50 meters, including 500 sqm of community cultural and sports facilities.

After deducting 1,000 sqm for commercial use and 3,000 sqm for cultural and health facilities, the sellable residential area is about 72,000 sqm, resulting in an actual starting floor price exceeding 80,000 yuan/sqm.

Considering the premium rate, the final sellable floor price is around 87,600 yuan/sqm, with expected selling prices between 130,000-140,000 yuan/sqm.

In Changning, such pure residential plots are practically rare.

The Inner Ring area has not seen pure residential land supply for nearly 17 years; new homes in the Zhongshan Park area are particularly scarce. The last time Changning publicly auctioned residential land was in December 2024, when the “Heyue Changning” plot was won by the China Merchants & Yuexiu consortium, with a transaction floor price of about 88,500 yuan/sqm.

The previous time residential land was auctioned in Changning Inner Ring dates back to the Langshi Hongqiao Green County project in 2009.

The significant time gap makes this year’s residential land especially precious.

The plot being auctioned was newly added following a partial adjustment of the control plan in May 2025.

The E1-21 plot was originally divided into three plots: E1-10B for urban reserve land, E1-20 for commercial office, and only E1-19 was designated for residential use. After adjustments, these three plots were merged into residential land and eventually entered the auction sequence.

Subsequently, several real estate companies conducted research on the plots, but only three companies participated in the bidding, indicating general market confidence, and competition was not as fierce as expected.

From a locational perspective, the plot has apparent advantages:

To the west, it is adjacent to the Suzhou River, and to the north, Zhongshan Park is not far away.

It is approximately 500 meters from the Longde Road Station on Metro Line 11 and around 900 meters from the Jiangsu Road Station on Line 2/11, with over ten bus routes nearby.

The commercial density around the plot is high, with multiple commercial entities such as Changning Raffles City, Longemont Shopping Center, KING88, and 889 Plaza, meeting all kinds of needs from daily life to high-end consumption.

In terms of education, nearby are Jiangsu Road Fifth Primary School, and Shanghai Yan’an Middle School Affiliated to Shengwu School, which are considered quality resources within Changning District.

The only downside is that one side of the plot has old towers, and the other side has old, dilapidated buildings, creating an average urban interface with limited views, making design challenging. For commuting, it’s still a bit far to walk to the subway station.

Located at the intersection of Changning and Putuo, with nearby schools and densely packed residential buildings, there are many construction restrictions, making future construction more challenging and the construction period relatively uncontrollable.

What makes developers hesitant is that even with zero premium, they would need to sell at 120,000 yuan to break even; if the premium is high, with project prices reaching 140,000-150,000 yuan/sqm based on 120 sqm, this total price range will struggle to attract local buyers from Changning looking for upgrades, while buyers from outside the area will have more options.

Poly Developments’ interest in this land was evident even before the auction began.

Poly Developments’ Shanghai Poly Jianlin Real Estate Co., Ltd. released a bidding announcement for the E1-17 and E1-21 plots in Changning District C040101, with a total project investment of 10 billion yuan, along with a construction and installation cost of 92.961 million yuan.

Looking at the current new housing market in Changning, the insufficient stock highlights the importance of this plot even more.

Currently, only two new projects, Heyue Changning and Xijiao Yunlu, are available for sale in the area.

Not long ago, Heyue Changning welcomed its third round of subscription, with 48 small high-rise units, only attracting 20 valid clients. The developer, however, held a creative house selection ceremony on-site: filling out intention forms and drawing table tennis balls for house selection.

In the first two rounds, 48 and 22 units were launched, with announcements stating the first round sold out and the second round subscribed at nearly 150%. Online real estate data shows that 31 units have been signed so far.

Xijiao Yunlu opened for sale in October and December last year, launching 61 and 52 units, respectively, with online real estate data showing that 28 and 12 units have been signed so far. Just recently, on March 28, three batches of 37 units were opened for sale.

Related company: Poly Developments sh600048