On 30 September 2026, China Resources Land (HK: 01109) successfully won the Xinchun Village AB plot in Jiang'an's Tazihu area, designated P(2026)090. This parcel had sat idle under the Xinchun Village collective for nearly two decades. Yet from its absence from the August 21 land auction announcement, to its listing on September 9, and its sale on September 30, every step of those final forty days was watched with anticipation by the market. At the same time, at a moment when the industry is broadly contracting and taking land cautiously and conservatively, China Resources Land chose to place its bet on precisely this piece of land. That move deserves careful dissection.

When development costs keep climbing, why is China Resources Land still buying land?

The industry's land acquisition logic is now clearer than clear: only core cities, only core locations, only mature plots that can be quickly monetised. This is the consensus of every developer. But land carrying commercial components that require long-term operation is an option most developers actively avoid. Under the acquisition conditions, it does not rely on sales proceeds yet must shoulder the full chain of responsibility from construction and tenant recruitment to ongoing operation — and doing so means a commitment of at least twenty years. So why did China Resources Land choose this place? This is no impulse; it is a demonstration of strength. In China Resources Land's 2025 core net profit from recurring businesses, more than half of the profit structure came from operating businesses. In other words, it is transforming from a developer that earns money by selling homes into an urban service provider that earns long-term money through operations and services. Against that backdrop, this twenty-year entrusted operating responsibility is a burden to others but home turf for China Resources Land. What is more, the value of this plot does not lie in "waiting to be realised" but in "being reactivated once mature."

Not just a single plot, but a big chess game with the city

Yet to understand it only through the lens of urban living would be to miss the strategic reading of this district. The preliminary work on this land took nearly twenty years. That it could reach this day was not something the market waited for, but the result of sustained promotion by Jiang'an District's urban renewal planning. From collective land expropriation, to confirmation of the district's positioning, to regulatory plan adjustments, three prerequisite procedures were completed step by step, with the government first preparing the land to maturity before handing it to the market. This is not a simple "commercial-to-residential conversion," but the re-conversion of low-efficiency commercial space that was hard to advance into housing people can live in, a kindergarten children can attend, a park residents can enter, the diverse retail the district needs, and a road that can open up the district's micro-circulation. What the villagers' ledger requires is not a one-off compensation figure, but annual dividends for the next twenty or thirty years and jobs they can reach at their doorstep; what the city's ledger requires is a full-scenario centralised commercial complex, a kindergarten, a patch of park green space, and a road that opens the micro-circulation; what Jiang'an District's ledger requires is the long-term tax revenue, employment and retail sales that commercial operation brings, not a one-time land transfer fee. For ordinary people, what changes is their life; for the city, what changes is its function; for the district, what changes is its development trajectory. Therefore it is not merely a plot of land, but a key piece on the great chessboard of Jiang'an District's urban renewal. And China Resources Land placing its piece on such a plot is not only a market-driven choice, but can be called the choice everyone hoped for: the government expects an operator that can build up the commercial business over the long term, the village collective expects a partner it can entrust for twenty years, and the residents of Tazihu and the whole of Houhu expect an urban centre at their doorstep.

A new pole for Jiang'an, an all-round champion of the main city

Jiang'an District's 14th Five-Year Plan explicitly states that the Hankou Historical and Cultural Scenic Area, the Hankou Riverside International Business District, and the Houhu Industry-City Integration Demonstration Zone form the "golden triangle" driving Hankou's high-quality development. Among them, the historical and cultural scenic area represents the depth of a century of Hankou's heritage, the Erqi Riverside Business District represents international commercial heights, and the Houhu area where Tazihu sits is officially positioned as an "industry-city integration demonstration zone" — meaning this is no longer merely a residential cluster, but a new urban function pole that Hankou is striving to cultivate. Moreover, the construction of the Houhu Industry-City Integration Demonstration Zone has been written into the work report of the Jiang'an District Party Congress, with the district's overall design, infrastructure improvement, and introduction of modern commerce and cultural and sports industries all being advanced systematically. From a residential perspective, Tazihu's value is also solid and real. It is already one of the largest residential clusters in Wuhan and one of the three comprehensive clusters designated in Wuhan's new round of master planning. Young people, office workers and young families are highly concentrated here; it lacks neither popularity nor life. At the same time, Tazihu's transport capacity continues to rise. The nearby Zhongyi Road Station is a three-line interchange hub for Lines 8, 12 and 21. As the Jiangbei section of Line 12 Phase II continues to advance, Tazihu will further integrate into Hankou's core and enter the half-hour commuting circle of Wuchang Riverside and Optics Valley, leaping from a traditional "residential living place" to a "rail transit hub node." The district's ecological, educational and medical resources are equally complete. Here there is Tazihu, the largest urban lake within Hankou's Third Ring Road, and a city-level sports centre; there are quality schools such as No. 6 High School Shangzhi Middle School and Yucai Hualing Primary School, as well as top-tier medical resources including the Houhu campus of Wuhan Central Hospital. An urban area that brings together commerce, housing, ecology, sports, education and healthcare is almost a rarity of its kind across Wuhan's entire main city. This is the fundamental reason China Resources Land chose this place: not because it will become better in the future, but because it is already good enough — good enough that it needs only one final step of activation.

China Resources Land, the choice everyone hoped for

Doing this plot well depends not on luck but on a complete set of systemic capabilities. The reason people expect China Resources Land is precisely that every capability this land needs, it happens to possess: a capital foundation that can withstand a twenty-year long cycle, industry-leading high-quality product development and innovation capability, a mature full-cycle service system covering development, commercial, property management and community, commercial operating experience and reputation repeatedly validated by the Wuhan market, and the credibility accumulated over twenty-two years of deep cultivation in Wuhan. More critically, it knows how to sit at the same table with the government and the village collective and turn a plot of land into a city. The capital foundation must be thick. According to its 2026 interim results, China Resources Land's comprehensive turnover in the first half reached RMB 67.87 billion, with core net profit of RMB 10.16 billion; revenue from rental-type operating real estate businesses represented by shopping malls reached RMB 14.16 billion, up 17.0% year on year; shopping mall rental income was RMB 12.44 billion, up 19.4% year on year, with the occupancy rate rising to 98.0%. This means China Resources Land itself has a deep capital foundation. Its operating capability is strong enough. Operating real estate represented by MixC commercial projects is China Resources Land's core moat. In Wuhan, China Resources Mixc Lifestyle (HK: 01209) has already laid out eight projects — Wuhan MixC, Wuchang MixC and Qincc MixC have already been put into operation, and Optics Valley MixC World is expected to open soon. With this, Wuhan will have gathered all three major product lines: MixC, MixC World and MixC One. Moreover, MixC's commercial results are particularly eye-catching. Since settling in Jiang'an in 2022, Wuhan MixC has filled the gap of a large high-end commercial complex in the Jianshe Avenue business district. The project has introduced more than 430 brands, with first stores and exclusive brands accounting for over 30%, annual foot traffic of about 22 million visits, and single-day foot traffic reaching 120,000 on New Year's Day 2026. Wuchang MixC, which opened in 2025, filled the high-end commercial gap along Wuchang Riverside, with retail sales exceeding RMB 50 million in just three days after opening, forming a "one river, two MixCs" pattern with Wuhan MixC. "MixC defines the centre" is no longer a slogan in the eyes of Wuhan people, but a repeatedly verified fact. Its district coordination experience is rich. Shenzhen Dachong MixC World transformed a crowded and ageing urban village into a core of high-tech business and high-end consumption; in Shenzhen Houhai, China Resources Land cultivated for nearly 20 years, coordinating 3.5 square kilometres of tidal flats and driving the Spring Bamboo, Spring Cocoon, Talent Park and MixC to grow simultaneously into world-class bay area landmarks; in Shenzhen's Universiade area, it took only 19 months to transform idle sports venues into an urban living room of "sports + commerce + ecology"; and in Sanya Haitang Bay, it first restored 5,500 mu of native river and lake ecology before placing MixC and a coastal metropolis. From Shenzhen to Sanya, this district coordination capability of "government provides policy, enterprise provides capital and operation" is now being put into practice in Tazihu. Its residential performance is solid. China Resources Land entered Wuhan in 2004 and has cultivated the city for 22 years, with total investment exceeding RMB 100 billion, and in 2024–2025 it consecutively topped the Wuhan commercial housing sales value ranking on an operated basis. In Jiang'an District, the first phase of Wuhan Tianchen opened with RMB 860 million in sales within 90 minutes of launch and was basically sold out in just 3 months; the second phase opened strongly with RMB 470 million in sales, with the first batch of units reaching a 90% absorption rate within 5 days, and cumulative online signings have exceeded 1,000 units. Wuhan Ruifu firmly holds the top spot in sales of ten-million-level luxury homes, Changjiang Tianji leads Wuhan's large flat-floor market, and Wangyun ranked TOP 1 in Wuchang Riverside sales from January to August 2026. Behind the "sell-out at every launch" Jiang'an speed is the market's genuine vote for China Resources Land's product strength. Delivery and product strength stand up to scrutiny. From Wuhan Ruifu to Changjiang Centre, from Changjiang Tianji to Optics Valley Runfu, early delivery has become the norm. In CRIC's 2025 Top 100 Chinese Real Estate Enterprise Product Strength list, China Resources Land ranked first among "China Good Housing Enterprises"; Wuhan Changjiang Tianji was listed among the nation's top ten high-end works, while Wuhan Ruifu and Changjiang Centre both won national top ten delivery-strength high-end works. The reputation of "godfather of product-strength luxury homes" was not self-proclaimed, but delivered project by project. Its community operation has warmth. China Resources Land's own community brand "Runbilin" has incubated more than 2,300 interest communities nationwide, gathering more than 2,900 owner hosts, developing more than 140,000 community members, holding a cumulative 46,000 events, and forming IPs such as the "Run BA" national basketball league and the "MixC Youth League." After landing in Wuhan, "Runbilin" has held more than 200 events and incubated more than 60 distinctive communities, with the owners' Spring Festival gala, Run BA basketball tournament and Run Tennis tournament continuing to operate, achieving long-term companionship from "stranger neighbours" to "good neighbours." Such a China Resources Land buying land in Tazihu naturally makes Wuhan people's expectations flow like water. More critically, this plot does not rely on any one party fighting alone. The government provides policy and coordination, the enterprise provides capital and operation, and the village collective provides land and status; only when all three sit at the same table can this chess game be played. What China Resources Land needs to do is not merely hand over a report card, but form long-term coordination with the government and village collective in district planning, turning an industrial plot dormant for nearly twenty years into the living stage of Houhu's next twenty years.

Commerce defines the centre, housing sets the benchmark

Looking back, it is understood that this Tazihu plot is planned to become a MixC super-capable complex of about 500,000 square metres. Relying on its mature MixC commercial genes, the project will deliver a high-energy commercial complex, thoroughly filling the long-standing gap in large centralised commercial space in the Houhu area. At the product level, the project will adopt an all-area elevated platform design to create a high-quality living circle. Through the open linkage of commercial streets and urban public corridors, as well as the low-density, tranquil residential space planning above the platform, it achieves a three-dimensional symbiosis of prosperity and serenity. It is not just a MixC commercial project, nor just a patch of low-density housing, but the completion of a closed loop on this land among the government's urban strategy, China Resources Land's operating capability, and the area's hundreds of thousands of residents and mature supporting facilities. In a cycle of industry contraction, the true contrarians are not the bold, but those who see accurately, withstand the pressure and operate well. China Resources Land takes Tazihu as the opening source point of a new era, answering not only "why buy land here," but also "what the next stage of life in Wuhan's main city should look like." It is believed that China Resources Land can live up to the trust placed in it — Houhu's better twenty years begin with this step. This answer is worth anticipating.