Top-tier luxury homes in Guangzhou and Shenzhen valued above 30 million yuan, with transaction growth exceeding 100%, surpassing Beijing and Shanghai

Reporter|Cheng Ronghao

Editor|Cheng Peng, Liao Dan, Du Hengfeng Proofreader|Duan Lian

With the first quarter of 2026 nearing its end, the luxury-home market in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen—China’s four top-tier first-tier cities—has seen a clear reshuffling of the market landscape, and the trend of market segmentation has become even more pronounced.

According to data from CRIC, as of March 22, in first-tier cities, high-end residential transactions with total prices of more than 30 million yuan increased year over year by 14%, showing a self-contained upward trend independent of the broader market; meanwhile, commodity housing transactions with total prices of more than 10 million yuan fell year over year by 37% (excluding hotel-style apartments). The trends of mid-to-high-end homes and the top-hammer luxury segment were sharply opposite.

Among them, the luxury-home markets in Guangzhou and Shenzhen saw an explosive increase in volume, with both year-over-year growth rates surpassing 100% and significantly overtaking Beijing and Shanghai. As of March 22, Shenzhen had 12 luxury homes at the 100 million-yuan (a “hundred million yuan”) level or above in total, already nearing last year’s full-year total of 13 units. Guangzhou even produced a top luxury listing with a unit price of 280,000 yuan/㎡ and a total price of 187 million yuan, setting a new near two-year record for the unit price of Guangzhou’s top-tier new luxury homes.

Luxury-home transaction growth in Guangzhou and Shenzhen exceeds 100%

Overtaking Beijing and Shanghai

A reporter with The Daily Economic News noted that since the beginning of the year, the luxury-home market in first-tier cities has also started to show a clear split. Specifically: transactions of premium homes in the 10-million-yuan range have cooled, while the 30-million-yuan-plus “top luxury” segment has risen against the trend, widening the gap in transaction growth rates among cities.

CRIC data shows that as of March 22, the four first-tier cities combined had completed 3,044 transactions of commodity housing with total prices of more than 10 million yuan, down by about 37% compared with the same period in 2025.

But once the total-price threshold was raised to 30 million yuan, the market trend reversed directly. At this price level, the combined成交 of high-end homes in the four first-tier cities totaled 548 units, up 14% year over year, becoming one of the few growth segments in the real estate market.

In terms of city performance, Guangzhou and Shenzhen are the absolute main force, with transaction growth rates both exceeding 100%, significantly overtaking Beijing and Shanghai.

Shenzhen’s performance is the most striking. As of March 22, it had accumulated 168 luxury homes of 30 million yuan and above, up 154.55% year over year. Daily average transactions were 2.07 units, up 132.6% from the daily average of 0.89 units in the fourth quarter of last year. Guangzhou follows closely. As of March 20, it had accumulated 73 units, up 128.13% year over year; daily average transactions were 0.90 units, achieving a doubling-like increase compared with the fourth quarter of last year.

Shanghai remains the “anchor stone” for the transaction volume of luxury homes of 30 million yuan and above, ranking first with 229 units. However, impacted by both tightened supply and the double effect of a high base last year, it fell 27.99% year over year; its daily average transactions declined 28.9% compared with the fourth quarter of last year, and growth momentum has weakened somewhat. Beijing recorded 78 units, up 20% year over year, but daily average transactions were fewer than 1 unit, with far less growth力度 than Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

The transaction pattern of luxury homes at the 100 million-yuan level better reflects the strength of Guangzhou and Shenzhen. In this price segment, Guangzhou and Shenzhen directly catch up to and overtake Beijing and Shanghai. As of March 22, Shenzhen had 12 transactions of 100 million-yuan-plus luxury homes. Of these, 10 units came from China Citic City Kaixin Yuewan, and 2 units came from Houhai Yunxi Huayuan. The filing average price for China Citic City Kaixin Yuewan was 244,000 yuan/㎡, setting a new high in recent years for Shenzhen’s luxury-home average unit price.

CRIC analysis states that as of March 20, Guangzhou had 7 transactions of luxury homes at the 100 million-yuan level, of which 5 were from Poly Yuexiwan. A listing with a unit price of 280,000 yuan/㎡ and a total price of 187 million yuan from early March has not yet been included in online signing at the time, and will further boost Guangzhou’s transaction data for 100 million-yuan luxury homes afterward.

From the market-side performance, this year’s first quarter saw relatively strong performances from projects of leading real estate developers in Guangzhou. On March 26, an internal source from Poly Development told The Paper that multiple high-end residential projects located in the “Zhujiang New Town – Machang” area have been drawing significant attention recently, and the heat of the “Zhu-Jin-Pa” golden triangle in Guangzhou’s core area has been reignited again.

“Since March, Poly Tianyi’s market performance has been strong, with a clear ‘small spring’ effect. Cumulative visits have exceeded 650 groups, achieving sales results of 10 units in a single day and 20 units in a single week. As of now, the transaction amount has already surpassed 500 million yuan.” A representative from the Poly Tianyi project told the reporter.

Guangzhou luxury-home Poly Tianyi project site images: provided by interviewee

“With an increase in luxury-home trades (transactions), at least in terms of unit price, it has a positive significance for stabilizing prices in the short term. Of course, the effect depends on whether the supply side can upgrade product strength, supporting facilities, and so on, create quality homes, and activate demand.” Li Yujia, Chief Researcher at the Guangdong Housing Policy Research Center, analyzed.

However, Li Yujia also mentioned that because the luxury-home market is relatively niche, and both the new home and second-hand home markets are currently dominated by low total-price transactions, luxury-home transactions have limited ability to drive the broader real estate market overall, so they should be viewed with caution.

Guangzhou and Shenzhen luxury-home supply concentrates and ramps up

For the Guangzhou and Shenzhen luxury-home market to achieve growth rates exceeding 100% and lead among first-tier cities, it is also, to a certain extent, related to the concentrated supply ramp-up of luxury-home projects in both places.

A reporter with The Daily Economic News found that at the end of 2025, the Shenzhen luxury-home market had already entered a supply surge. Four benchmark projects—Houhai Yunxi Huayuan, China Citic City Kaixin Yuewan, Houhai China Merchants Resiice, and Lian Tai Chao Zongwan—totally 668 units were concentrated and brought to market, with total value amounting to several hundred billion yuan.

CRIC data shows that in the fourth quarter of 2025, Shenzhen’s supply of luxury homes of 30 million yuan and above increased 1.3 times year over year by supply area. As of March 22, 2026, supply in this price segment was close to 50,000 square meters; in the same period last year, there was zero supply. A large amount of newly added supply is gradually converting into online signing transaction volume in the first quarter.

“Looking back at past luxury-home market transactions, similar trends were also seen in 2024. At that time, in 30 key cities, the total transaction volume of luxury homes with total prices of more than 30 million yuan increased 65% year over year, showing a ‘the more expensive, the more people buy’ characteristic. By 2026, this trend is still continuing. The total-price band for high-net-worth households’ home purchases is moving upward.” On the morning of March 26, representatives from CRIC’s In-depth Consulting · Pulier Digital Intelligent Research Center analyzed for the reporter.

Compared with Shenzhen’s luxury-home market, which accelerated entering the end of last year, Guangzhou’s luxury-home market supply schedule accelerated in late March. According to Pulier data monitoring for the Guangzhou–Foshan (Guang-Fo) region, since late March, Guangzhou property obtaining-permits pace has noticeably quickened, and it is expected that around 28 popular projects citywide in March will roll out additional launches.

Worth noting is that many luxury-home projects entering the market in Shenzhen are located in core central-area locations.

For example, Houhai Yunxi Huayuan is located in Shenzhen’s traditional luxury-home area, about 400 meters from Shenzhen Bay No. 1. The land was won by a joint venture of China Resources + China Overseas with a bid price of 18.512 billion yuan. After 295 rounds of bidding, the premium rate reached as high as 46.31%, and the land price per floor area exceeded 70,000 yuan/㎡. During the second batch of launches on March 22, the 216㎡ layout and the 408㎡ 100-million-yuan-level units were sold out directly. Four months after entering the market, sales revenue exceeded 23.9 billion yuan.

In Guangzhou, in February 2026 the Machang land parcel was sold for 23.604 billion yuan, with a premium rate of 26.6%, and a floor price exceeding 80,000 yuan/㎡. This also warmed up the second-hand luxury-home market in the Zhujiang New Town area.

According to data released by Guangzhou E-House Research and Development Department in early March this year, the second-hand luxury-home market in Zhujiang New Town has shown a “rising both volume and price” trend for eight consecutive weeks, with 83 transactions in January. Other data shows that February is traditionally a slack season, and the second-hand online signing volume in the Zhujiang New Town area also reached 60 units.

“After the Machang land parcel was sold, luxury-home owners in the Zhujiang New Town area noticeably became reluctant to sell.” On the afternoon of March 26, a real estate agent in Zhujiang New Town, Guangzhou told the reporter that after the Machang land parcel auction, everyone estimated the parcel’s break-even selling price at about 160,000 yuan/㎡—effectively setting a “floor price” for the Zhujiang New Town core area. But surrounding second-hand top luxury homes (such as Qiaoxin Huiyue Tai, Triumph New World, etc.) have transaction prices generally ranging from 170,000 yuan/㎡ to 300,000 yuan/㎡. Compared with the “flour price” (typically referring to land acquisition costs), the value-for-money is actually more prominent.

(Editor: Wen Jing)

Keywords:

                                                            Luxury homes
                                                            Housing market