According to its recent financial report, SOHO China, one of the country's leading property developers, pulled in 15.3 billion yuan ($2.46 billion) in revenue and 10.59 billion yuan in net profits over 2012.

Taking a look under the hood though, much of this revenue is just coming from confirmed orders from 2010, when the company saw its revenue jump to a record high of 23.8 billion yuan. Actually, SOHO's sales have been declining steadily since 2011.

Unfortunately, the company's recent moves to transform itself from a bulk seller into a realtor dealing directly with the market may not be what it needs to revitalize its balance sheet.

In real estate circles, SOHO is typically regarded as a good marketer, but weak when it comes to management and construction quality. In the past, the company may have been able to succeed dealing with middlemen buying up properties en masse for resale, but individual clients will be more demanding about what they pay for.

The author is Zhu Yishi, a journalist at caixin.cn.