The net profit margin of the top 101 to 200 real estate companies in China may continue to decline this year due to rising costs and fierce market competition, according to a report of the China Index Academy.

Those companies reported an average 9.1 percent net profit margin last year, down 0.4 percentage points from 2019, as a result of the high cost of land and management. Some companies invested more in marketing or reduced prices to promote sales, as influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, which also led to a decrease in profit, it said.

The academy conducted research on the top 101-200 property operators in terms of their scale, profit, growth, stability, financing, operation efficiency and cooperate social responsibility to evaluate their competence, in order to better learn the whole picture of the industry, and as a supplement to the study of top 100 companies.

In 2020, sales of the top 101-200 property operators reached over 1.6 trillion yuan ($245.9 billion), up 11.6 percent year-on-year, which was 2.9 percentage points higher than the growth rate of all real estate companies nationwide. Their market share reached 9.2 percent, a slight growth of 0.2 percentage points than 2019, said the report released on Thursday.

Those companies purchased land worth more than 128.9 billion yuan last year, up 10.6 percent year-on-year. The proportion of newly bought land in the first-tier cities dropped, while that in the second-, third- and fourth-tier cities increased.

The report suggested companies invest in key city clusters that drive China's economic growth, such as the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area, the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, as they have great potential in economic development and consumption.

Though the pressure of making a profit remains high, some companies showed good profitability by increasing their brand premium, coordinating multiple projects and developing diversified business such as property management, the elderly care business, and the cultural and tourism industry.

The average debt-to-asset ratio reached 75.2 percent last year, an annual decrease of 0.4 percentage points. Most of them showed a strong demand for expansion, but the risk of lacking funds, land and human resources needs to be taken into consideration, it said.

The Chinese real estate market showed strong resilience despite the impact of the pandemic. In the long term, more development potential can be expected, but more resources — funds, land and human resources — will go to major companies. The report suggested the top 101 to 200 companies expand financing channels, improve fund utilization efficiency, strengthen awareness of risk control, optimize management and realize high-quality development.