National Bureau of Statistics: Commercial residential property sales of 839.3 billion yuan in the first two months, down 20.2% year-on-year

On March 16, the National Bureau of Statistics released the basic situation of the national real estate market for January and February 2026.

1. Real estate development investment completion status

In January and February, the total investment in real estate development nationwide was 9.612 trillion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 11.1% (calculated on a comparable basis, see Note 5). The decline narrowed by 6.1 percentage points compared to the entire previous year; of which, residential investment was 7.282 trillion yuan, down 10.7%, with the decline narrowing by 5.6 percentage points.

In January and February, the construction area of houses by real estate development enterprises was 5,353.72 million square meters, a year-on-year decrease of 11.7%. Among them, residential construction area was 3,713.47 million square meters, down 11.9%. Newly started construction area was 50.84 million square meters, down 23.1%. Among them, residential new starts were 36.95 million square meters, down 23.3%. Completed construction area was 63.2 million square meters, down 27.9%. Among them, residential completed area was 46.25 million square meters, down 26.9%.

2. Sales and inventory of new commercial housing

In January and February, the sales area of new commercial housing was 9.293 million square meters, a year-on-year decrease of 13.5%, with the decline expanding by 4.8 percentage points compared to the entire previous year; among them, residential sales area decreased by 15.9%. The sales amount of new commercial housing was 8.186 trillion yuan, down 20.2%, with the decline expanding by 7.6 percentage points; among them, residential sales amount decreased by 21.8%.

At the end of February, the area of commercial housing for sale was 79.998 million square meters, a year-on-year increase of 0.1%, with the growth rate slowing by 1.5 percentage points compared to the end of 2025. Among them, the area for sale within 3 years was 60.616 million square meters, a decrease of 1.6%.

3. Funds received by real estate development enterprises

In January and February, the funds received by real estate development enterprises totaled 1.3047 trillion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 16.5%. Among them, domestic loans were 257 billion yuan, down 13.9%; self-raised funds were 493.9 billion yuan, down 5.9%; deposits and prepayments were 358.9 billion yuan, down 21.5%; and personal mortgage loans were 112.8 billion yuan, down 41.9%.