(Yicai Global) June 14 -- China’s real estate market rebounded last month thanks to policy easing, but it is the country’s major developers that are benefiting most as sales among smaller homebuilders remain lackluster.

Sales jumped an average of 11.1 percent last month from April, according the May sales data released by 14 of the top 20 developers as of June 12. China Overseas Holdings led the pack with a 30 percent gain, while transactions at the top 100 builders climbed just 6.5 percent.

Although big developers still face enormous challenges, they are faring better than typical real estate firms. From a year earlier, sales at the 14 companies plunged 53 percent in May, and they slumped 45 percent over the January to May period. For those in the top 100, sales plummeted 59 percent year on year and 53 percent in the first five months.

The gulf between homebuilders is widening as those with high debt ratios face greater difficulty raising cash, said Yuan Hao, a real estate analyst at Shenwan Hongyuan Securities.

Sunac China Holdings and Shimao Property Holdings, which recently defaulted, saw an 80 percent plunge in sales from a year ago, a much steeper drop than for other developers. Their sales over the five months ended May 31 sank 59 percent and 72 percent, respectively.

Home sales should continue to grow month-on-month over the next few months, said Wu Yinxiang, a property analyst at Northeast Securities. But even if sales improve on an annual basis, it does not mean that fundamentals are sound, as market transactions are still low, he added.

Builders sold property worth CNY813.5 billion (USD120.5 billion) in April, much less than the monthly average of CNY1.48 trillion (USD219.2 billion) in 2020 and last year, Wu noted.

The real estate market is likely to stabilize at the end of the third quarter or the fourth quarter of this year as the Covid-19 outbreaks wane, curbs are eased further, and more financing policies are issued to support developers, Wu said.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Kim Taylor