Yuexiu Property Lin Zhaoyuan: Maintain a sales target of 100 billion this year, complete the racecourse project in 3-4 years

In 2026, Yuexiu Property will continue to maintain a sales target of one trillion yuan; the corresponding available resources will be 221.3 billion yuan. Of this supply, 94% is distributed in first- and second-tier cities, and the resources are relatively high-quality. Overall, we will plan on a clearance rate of around 50%, which is the goal set by the management team for the team this year,” said Lin Zhaoyuan, Chairman and Executive Director of Yuexiu Property, at the earnings conference held on March 31.

Yuexiu Property is currently one of the very few real estate companies in the industry that dares to publicly announce its sales targets. Looking back on 2025, Yuexiu Property achieved sales of 106.21 billion yuan, ranking 9th nationwide on the CRIC full-caliber sales ranking. Judging from the core figures in its financial report, in 2025 Yuexiu Property achieved operating revenue of 86.46 billion yuan, maintaining a slight year-on-year increase, and after-tax profit of 1.78 billion yuan, up 21.4% year on year.

The management team of Yuexiu Property appears at the earnings conference; Lin Zhaoyuan, Chairman and Executive Director of Yuexiu Property, is the second from the left.

Performance is contributed by more than 80% from six cities, including Beijing and Shanghai

A breakdown of the composition of Yuexiu Property’s 2025 sales performance shows that its investment strategy has shifted from focusing on “hundreds of cities nationwide” to locking in and targeting 6 cities, which together contributed more than 80% of sales.

Specifically, the six cities are Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, and Chengdu, which together contributed 85.6% of sales performance. At the same time, Yuexiu Property’s market share in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou is also firmly among the top in the market.

From the perspective of its investment strategy, on the land-acquisition side, in 2025 Yuexiu Property’s equity investment amount was 24.4 billion yuan, and the average land-premium rate was only about 9.3%. Meanwhile, its land-acquisition focus still remains on the six core cities mentioned above, and the equity investment amount accounts for as much as 96.3%.

The shift in Yuexiu Property’s investment strategy also indicates that, in the first half of the real estate cycle, most developers achieve scale growth through nationwide expansion. In the second half of the real estate cycle, amid market differentiation, developers that grow against the trend often achieve stable scale through precise focus.

Financial report data shows that, as of the end of 2025, Yuexiu Property’s total land reserve was 18.55 million square meters, with its layout continuing to concentrate toward high-energy cities; the combined share of first- and second-tier cities reached 94.4%. Among the newly added land reserves in 2025, the proportion in first-tier cities even rose to 67.7%.

Lin Zhaoyuan said: “This year’s 100 billion yuan sales target is well aligned with the company’s current supply situation. Overall, the company’s value of land holdings is highly concentrated in four first-tier cities, as well as core second-tier cities such as Hangzhou and Chengdu, laying a solid foundation for achieving the sales target in 2026. At the same time, the company will continue to focus on 6 core cities and implement incremental growth, stabilizing through investment, and investing 10% to 11%.”

While crossing the cycle, Yuexiu Property continues to maintain financial soundness. The financial report shows that by the end of 2025, the company’s three red-line indicators continued to stay in the “all-green” category: the asset-liability ratio after excluding advance receipts was 65.5%, the net gearing ratio was 54.9%, and the cash-to-short-term-debt ratio was 1.7 times—each of which remained firmly within the industry safety range. At the same time, Yuexiu Property’s cash at year-end reached 46.76 billion yuan, and net operating cash flow for the full year was an inflow of 13.94 billion yuan.

Yuexiu Property’s core financial indicators for 2025. Photo / Yuexiu Property annual report screenshot

“The Guangzhou Racecourse project will begin construction soon”

At the earnings conference, Lin Zhaoyuan also disclosed that this year Yuexiu Property’s target equity investment amount remains at 30 billion yuan. He said: “Last year’s plan for (equity investment amount) was 30 billion yuan, but we actually invested 24.4 billion yuan, not reaching our expected target. In terms of the land market, the first half of last year was extremely hot. We believe this ‘heat’ lacked market support, so we did not acquire high-premium projects last year. Since the ‘heat’ in the land market did not match the sales market, we made corresponding adjustments.”

Regarding this year’s market trend, Lin Zhaoyuan believes: “This year’s ‘bottom’ in the market may be thicker than last year’s. Overall, the market should be in the process of building its base—that’s the overall assessment. Looking back at this year’s first quarter, sales in March were clearly better than in January and February. Judging from the situation of the ‘small spring’ in March, this is an important signal that the market is warming up or improving.”

In terms of land acquisition this year: on February 25, Yuexiu Property successfully obtained the Guangzhou Zhujiang New Town Racecourse land plot through 243 rounds of bidding at a total price of 23.6 billion yuan. Converted to the residential transaction floor land price, it was 85,000 yuan per square meter, setting a new high for floor-unit prices in Guangzhou. Less than a week after securing the land, Yuexiu Group and Beijing Hualian (SKP) formally signed a cooperation agreement.

The Racecourse land plot, with a total price of 23.6 billion yuan, has attracted significant market attention. At the earnings conference, Lin Zhaoyuan said frankly: “The Guangzhou Racecourse project is a large-scale complex at the level of a city landmark card. We will advance it with the guiding principles of high-standard planning, high-quality development, and high-energy operations. Currently, the project is still under the parent company Yuexiu Group, while Yuexiu Property is the group’s only development platform. If it meets the interests of the listed company, we do not rule out that in the future the project may be injected into the listed company Yuexiu Property; the specifics will be subject to announcements.”

Lin Zhaoyuan also disclosed: “The Racecourse project will start construction in the near term, and it should be completed in 3 to 4 years.”

Amid the sustained adjustment of the real estate market, falling gross profit margins are a common challenge faced by real estate companies. When asked how to improve gross profit margins, Lin Zhaoyuan responded: “From 2025, over the past 2 to 3 years as the industry has undergone deep adjustment, our gross profit margin has also been affected. It has indeed dropped to below the 10% threshold. From the perspective of outlook, we hope to restore it as quickly as possible. In terms of measures, ‘stabilizing through investment’ is key, because the overall gross profit margins of newly invested projects are generally above 15%, which can play a better driving role for our ‘portfolio.’”

Beijing News Shell Finance reporter Xu Qian

Editor Yang Juanjuan

Proofreader Liu Jun