Major players in the Chinese real estate industry have had a generally good year so far, even amid a slump in the sector due to an overall sluggish economy, a report said on Wednesday.
Wealth held in the real estate sector by some of the biggest participants has increased in 2015, but smaller property owners continue to face challenges, according to a property rich list released Wednesday by the Shanghai-based Hurun Report.
Wang Jianlin, chairman of conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group, topped the annual rich list along with his family, with an $18.8 billion fortune in real estate, up 9 percent from 2014.
Next came Chen Lihua, chairwoman of Fuwah International Group. Chen had $7.4 billion in property assets, up 22 percent year-on-year, said the report.
With a net worth of $34.4 billion, Wang also snatched the top spot on the broader Hurun Rich List from e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Chairman Jack Ma Yun, according to another list Hurun Report released on Thursday.
The cut-off to make the Top 50 of the Hurun Property Rich List this year was a record $1.3 billion, an increase of 30 percent from last year and sixfold the figure 10 years ago, the report said.
Though tycoons in this industry have had a good year generally, as their businesses continued to grow fast, it's been tough for small and medium-sized players, Rupert Hoogewerf, Hurun Report chairman and chief researcher, said in a press release Wednesday.
Hoogewerf noted that the sluggish economy has prompted many developers to diversify into other industries for long-term growth.
