Real estate brokerages in China’s major cities are urging owners of existing homes to lower prices to spur sales transactions, reports Caixin. This comes amid a property market downturn which shows no signs of easing.

Some of the price cuts have developed into “systematic and organized practices,” with some real estate agents even significantly lowering the listing prices of secondhand homes without consulting their owners, Caixin reports He Ling, marketing president at Shenzhen-based real estate brokerage Leyoujia, as saying.

In early January, a Hangzhou operating unit of Ke Holdings, the country’s largest housing transaction platform also known as Beike, launched a campaign in the city encouraging its real estate agents to negotiate price cuts with home sellers. Agents can receive rewards for persuading owners of highly rated properties—considered “quality listings” in the company’s internal system—to lower the prices by more than 5%. Sources said the policy was halted less than a week after its launch. Beike emphasized in an internal notice that the platform sticks to a principle that bans forced prices cuts or hikes.

More economy and mid-range hotel operators in China are leasing office buildings for conversion to guest accommodation, reports the South China Morning Post. Such flexible, mixed-use approaches are expected to increase amid a continued weakening of the office market.

In some Chinese cities, the practice of multiple hotel brands co-leasing separate floors within a single building has become more prevalent, fuelled by interest from both property owners and hotel operators.

“Hotel operators are seeking lower-cost, well-located space, and office landlords are looking to reduce vacancy,” James Macdonald, head of research for China at Savills, a property consultancy, told the SCMP. “This trend is most common in grade B office assets in good locations, especially slightly older buildings where leasing to traditional office tenants has become more challenging.”

Mainland China’s retail and retail property sectors have suffered another blow amid a fresh wave of store closures by foreign and Hong Kong brands, reports the South China Morning Post. High-profile closures include Lane Crawford, Ikea, Triumph, Zara and Zara Home.

Multinational furniture retailer Ikea said seven mainland stores would cease operations from February 2. As of December 31, German lingerie maker Triumph Group International had closed all of its bricks-and-mortar stores on the mainland. Spanish retailer Zara Home closed its last two stores in Changsha and Hangzhou, in June and July 2025, respectively. Its sister company, fast-fashion retailer Zara, last year shut down more than 10 mainland stores, mostly in second-tier cities, following store closures in previous years. Still, Zara opened some large-scale stores at prime locations in cities like Shanghai.

The average vacancy rate of premium shopping centres in Beijing edged up again by the end of the third quarter in 2025, when it rose 1.6 percentage points quarter on quarter to 8.6%. That was affected by factors such as the launch of new projects, according to property consultancy Savills. Over the same quarter, the average rent of premium retail properties in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen fell 2.4% quarter on quarter, according to data from real estate services firm JLL.

China’s top-tier cities struggled with a worsening glut of premium office space in 2025, as new supply outpaced demand by more than double, reports Caixin.

The oversupply was most severe in the southern tech capital of Shenzhen, where the supply-demand ratio soared to 2.7 to 1—far higher than levels in other major markets. Muted demand has weighed on these cities’ leasing capacity for four consecutive years. Net absorption of Grade A office space across Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen—a measure of the net change in occupied office space over a given period—peaked at 3.34 million square meters in 2021 but declined sharply to about 1.1 to 1.2 million square meters annually since 2022.

The enduring softness reflects broader headwinds in China’s commercial real estate market, where a slowing economy and previous construction booms have shifted landlords’ focus from returns to occupancy. Net absorption across the four cities totalled 1.18 million square meters in 2025, down 3.2% from the previous year and nearly 65% below the 2021 peak.

A wave of international retailers have announced major store closures across China, including the likes of Ikea, Zara, Zara Home and Lane Crawford. As many big international brands are moving their China business online, shopping centre vacancies are on the rise, and rent prices are falling. The same is happening with office space across China’s top-tier cities.

Much of the focus of China’s property market woes has been on private apartments. Yet, both retail and office space are also facing serious problems. The rapid expansion of office space development across China appears to be finally hitting a limit. Meanwhile, a similar thing is playing out in shopping malls.  This is in part a result of Beijing’s push towards online retail, but also a result of overall weak consumption. 

It’s getting tougher and tougher for foreign brands operating in China. Shopping malls, while adapting to the changes by focusing more on restaurants, education centres and nail salons, are likely to continue to decline. Office space faces an even bigger challenge, as those international companies which have typically required the most space are cutting back. In the coming months, there are likely to be more headlines relating not only to private property developers, but also to those who build and operate office and retail spaces.