Housing firms emerge from'14 relatively unscathed

China's major real estate companies are expected to have emerged relatively unscathed from the grim market realities of 2014, by delivering results far better than the industry average.

Although most developers are yet to release their annual financial reports, private research institutions have already compiled annual rankings based on their own findings, which show that despite the market downturn, the major players were able to enjoy the benefits of simply being the largest.

Seven developers - Greenland Holding Group Co Ltd, China Vanke Co Ltd, Dalian Wanda Commercial Properties Co Ltd, Poly Real Estate Group Co Ltd, Evergrande Group, Country Garden Holdings Co Ltd and China Overseas Land & Investment Ltd - have now entered what one listing called the "over 100 billion yuan ($16.12 billion) club".