In recent years, as the central bank and the Financial Supervisory Commission have implemented various bans and restrictions on investment land purchases, and as a result of the government directing funds to the stock market, land investment and self-use purchases have gradually undergone structural changes.
According to commercial real estate and land transaction information released by Cushman & Wakefield in the third quarter, in the absence of a basic market for public land auctions, private companies' self-negotiated transaction strength continues to be weak, with only 25.6 billion yuan paid. This also means that the total transaction volume in the first three quarters is still unable to break through the 100 billion mark, and the annual land transaction volume may fall below the five-year average of 176.8 billion yuan.
Cushman & Wakefield pointed out that industrial land accounted for more than half of the transaction volume in the third quarter at 13.3 billion yuan. Industries including Wenye Technology, Hongtai Electronics, and Hon Hai accounted for more than half of the self-use purchases, which also highlights the current lack of interest among builders in residential and commercial land investment.
According to Cushman & Wakefield's analysis, the land market has always been dominated by construction companies and the life insurance industry, which focus on the sales or rental income of construction properties. In the past, self-use land purchases for the construction of corporate headquarters and factories did not account for a high proportion of land transactions. However, in recent years, as the central bank and the Financial Supervisory Commission have implemented various bans and restrictions on investment land purchases, and as a result of the government directing funds to the stock market, land investment and self-use purchases have gradually undergone structural changes.
Compared with 2025, self-use land purchases accounted for approximately 16% of the annual transaction volume, but in the first three quarters of 2026, the proportion of self-use land purchases has reached as high as 27%, and most of them are industrial land purchases. Cushman & Wakefield pointed out that since the construction of factories in AI-related industries has divided up the majority of the labor force, in addition to evaluating factors such as policies, funds, and prices, builders need to consider one more factor when purchasing land at this stage, which is the continuity of work shifts.
Even if many builders are interested in land whose location and capital are suitable for investment returns, they will still choose to abandon the land once they assess that the construction team cannot smoothly connect the various phases of the project. Cushman & Wakefield further stated that listed cabinet builders still have to face annual performance issues, so more builders are turning to public office and joint construction. In the past, there were at most two or three bidding teams bidding for public urban renewal cases. This year, there were more than five bidding teams for several public urban renewal cases, which shows the degree of incentive for competition.
