Not lying flat, not passing the buck: Vanke's crisis response is worth industry scrutiny

Ask AI · How Vanke’s Delivery Guarantee Measures Stabilize Confidence in the Real Estate Market?

Produced by | China Visit Network

Reviewed by | Li Xiaoyan

On March 31, Vanke released its 2025 annual performance report. Under the dual pressures of deep industry adjustments and accumulated historical burdens, the company delivered a challenging yet resilient report card. Behind the data, it reflects not only the inevitable pain of industry cyclical downturns but also Vanke’s responsibility to face problems head-on, actively undertake radical reforms, and do its best to stabilize people’s livelihoods and maintain steady operations. Beneath the surface of huge losses and debt pressures, this leading real estate enterprise with over thirty years of ups and downs is pushing forward with a determined resolve to reform, solidify its foundation amid crises, and explore new growth through transformation.

In 2025, Vanke achieved operating revenue of 233.43 billion yuan, with a net loss attributable to shareholders of 117k yuan, an expansion compared to 2024. From an industry perspective, this result is not unique to Vanke but a concentrated reflection of leading companies in the real estate sector clearing out historical risks and releasing pressure during the shift from rapid expansion to high-quality development. The accumulated losses exceeding 100 billion yuan over two years fundamentally serve as a comprehensive review and digestion of aggressive investments, high land prices, and over-expansion during the industry’s upward cycle, marking a necessary phase for companies to shed path dependence and operate more lightly.

The core reason for this loss stems from asset impairment and credit impairment provisions, totaling over 56.1 billion yuan for the year, accounting for more than 60% of the total loss. Among them, inventory write-down provisions mainly targeted projects in Foshan, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and other early high-priced acquisitions. Against the background of a declining property market and rationalizing home prices, Vanke proactively revalued the value of existing assets, fully exposing historical issues without concealment or delay, demonstrating management’s honesty in facing mistakes and determination for thorough rectification. Compared to some companies that hide risks and delay disposals, Vanke chose a one-time “financial overhaul,” fully releasing historical burdens and creating conditions for lighter operations and healthier development in the future. This proactive responsibility has instead become a crucial foundation for long-term value recovery.

It is worth noting that even amid huge losses, Vanke still maintained its basic operations. In 2025, the company’s sales amounted to 134.06 billion yuan, remaining in the trillion-yuan scale during the deep industry adjustment period, firmly ranking among the top tier of the industry; all 18 new projects exceeded opening targets, with an overall absorption rate of 60%, and projects in core cities like Shanghai and Chengdu achieved over 80% absorption, confirming that product strength and brand recognition still enjoy market approval. Meanwhile, diversified businesses such as Vanke Cloud, long-term rentals, and logistics remained steady, with annual operating service revenue reaching 58.01 billion yuan, becoming an important support for stable cash flow. Among them, Vanke Cloud’s revenue was 37.36 billion yuan, and cold chain logistics revenue grew over 25%, demonstrating the resilience of diversified operations through cycles.

In the context of frequent industry risks and delivery difficulties faced by many local real estate companies, Vanke regards “guaranteeing delivery” as its primary social responsibility and operational bottom line, actively protecting homebuyers’ rights and stabilizing industry confidence. In 2025, despite multiple challenges such as funding, construction, and supply chain issues, the company delivered a total of 234 projects, 494 batches, and 117k homes, with 17k homes delivered 30 days early, 73 batches achieving “zero waiting” for delivery, and 37 projects becoming industry benchmarks for quality delivery.

To ensure delivery quality and efficiency, Vanke innovated with the “See Home” site open day, conducting over 1,500 events throughout the year, inviting 28k households to visit on-site. Using 360-degree cameras and drone patrols, they implemented “cloud supervision,” making the delivery process transparent and visual. They also launched the “Delivery and Certification” service, streamlining the entire process from handing over the keys to obtaining property certificates, alleviating homeowners’ concerns. In some projects, Vanke even formed a virtuous cycle of “delivery promoting sales,” leveraging stable delivery reputation to boost sales absorption, thus building a unique competitive advantage during market downturns.

Guaranteeing delivery is not only a corporate responsibility but also a key measure to stabilize the industry and people’s livelihoods. As an industry leader, Vanke delivered over 100k homes with quality and quantity despite its own pressures, safeguarding the housing rights of hundreds of thousands of families and setting a benchmark of “risk controllable, worry-free delivery” for the industry. This effectively alleviates market anxiety and creates a stable environment for risk mitigation in the real estate sector. Such commitment to keeping promises and shouldering social responsibility amid difficulties has become a vital confidence for Vanke to navigate cycles.

In response to market concerns over debt and liquidity pressures, with strong support from its major shareholder, Shenzhen Metro Group, Vanke has taken proactive measures. Debt resolution has achieved phased results, firmly maintaining the bottom line of no public market defaults. Since 2025, the company has repaid a total of 33.2 billion yuan in public debt, maintaining market credit stability.

At the start of 2026, debt restructuring accelerated. In January, the company successfully extended three domestic bonds totaling 6.8 billion yuan through schemes like “gradual repayment” and “small priority,” gaining high approval from creditors. Meanwhile, Shenzhen Metro Group continued strong support, providing over 33.8 billion yuan in low-cost shareholder loans, with an additional 2.36 billion yuan in special loans in January 2026 at an interest rate as low as 2.34%, specifically for public debt repayment. The continued infusion of state-owned capital not only alleviates short-term cash flow pressures but also signals firm support, stabilizing creditor and market confidence.

For the 11.27 billion yuan of debt due from April to July 2026, Vanke has formulated detailed repayment plans and is actively communicating with creditors to promote debt extensions and restructuring. Although long-term debt restructuring plans have not been officially confirmed, they reflect the company’s long-term perspective in seeking sustainable solutions—extending debt maturities and optimizing repayment arrangements to buy time for operational recovery. Meanwhile, the company actively revitalizes existing assets, with 2025 asset disposals valued at 33.8 billion yuan, completing 31 major transactions worth 11.3 billion yuan, using asset optimization to generate cash and improve debt structure.

From financial data, despite significant short-term repayment pressures, the company has not fallen into liquidity exhaustion. By the end of 2025, it held 67.24 billion yuan in cash and equivalents, with positive cash flow from operating activities. Coupled with support from major shareholders and asset disposals, this provides a solid foundation for debt resolution. More importantly, Vanke maintains honest communication with creditors, advancing debt restructuring based on market-oriented and legal principles, earning understanding and support from all parties, and creating a favorable external environment for risk mitigation.

Alongside performance and debt adjustments, Vanke launched its most comprehensive internal reform and governance overhaul in history, with a determined inward focus to correct past issues and rebuild management systems, laying a foundation for long-term development. On one hand, it fully implemented accountability mechanisms, recovering compensation and investigating responsibilities for past investment mistakes and management issues, covering senior management, regional leaders, and former executives, demonstrating a clear stance of “accountability for responsibilities, accountability for failures.”

On the other hand, it boldly pushed organizational reforms, compressing the original “Group-Region-City” three-tier structure into a “Group-City” two-tier flat management system, centralizing core authority at headquarters, streamlining management layers, and improving decision-making efficiency. It also deepened cost reduction and efficiency improvements, with 2025 development and operational costs down over 18% year-on-year, and Vanke Cloud applying AI technology to reduce management expenses by 10.1%. Management costs have decreased for two consecutive years, with significant cost control and efficiency gains.

In terms of business, Vanke firmly implements the “Focus and Shrink” strategy, concentrating on core cities and high-quality projects, accelerating the divestment of non-core businesses and low-efficiency assets, such as the exit from snow and ice sectors. Going forward, it will further focus on development, property management, long-term rentals, logistics, and commercial sectors, channeling resources into strengthening core advantages and resolutely curbing new losses. It will also increase technological empowerment, integrating AI into design, construction, and operation processes. The AI engineering management platform now covers 97% of ongoing projects, and self-developed drawing large models are applied industry-wide, enhancing efficiency and reducing costs through digital transformation.

At this pivotal moment of industry transformation, Vanke is experiencing its most severe challenge since listing, but within the crisis lies new opportunities. The huge losses and debt pressures are essentially “growing pains” of industry transition—painful but necessary for Vanke to shed its traditional high-leverage model and shift toward high-quality development. As historical burdens are fully cleared, debt risks are being orderly resolved, internal reforms deepen, and diversified businesses grow steadily, the company is gradually emerging from the trough toward a sustainable development phase.

In the short term, 2026 remains a critical year for risk resolution, with debt repayment, asset optimization, and operational stabilization as key tasks. However, with strong support from major shareholders, proactive management, and active cooperation from all parties, the risk of default remains controllable, and the company’s fundamentals remain stable. In the long run, Vanke’s valuable land reserves, diversified and stable business portfolio, strong brand reputation, and mature management system have not been weakened by short-term losses. As the real estate market gradually bottoms out and industry patterns optimize, Vanke is expected to leverage its early risk clearance and focus on core businesses to seize opportunities in the next industry recovery, achieving both performance and valuation restoration.

From “survive” to “stabilize,” and then to “thrive,” Vanke’s transformation journey is full of challenges but also highlights the responsibility and commitment of a leading enterprise. In this deep industry adjustment, Vanke chooses to face problems directly, actively reform, and uphold bottom lines—an act of responsibility not only to its own history but also to the industry, homebuyers, and all stakeholders. The pain will pass, and new growth is already on the horizon. After weathering storms, Vanke is poised to move forward with a lighter step and more stable pace into a new chapter of high-quality development.