The average land sale prices by local government to real estate developers in 40 major cities in China amounted to RMB 4,877/square meters ($754/sq.m) in January of the current year, down 0.5 percent month on month, while up 4.6 percent year on year, as announced by CRIC on February 1, a real estate research institute of E-House, a Shanghai-based real estate transaction service provider.
Meanwhile, the overall area transacted in land sales in the 40 cities in question amounted to 40.01 million square meters in January, down 64 percent month on month and up seven percent year on year.
At the same time, land sales revenues of the 40 cities totaled RMB 233.5 billion ($36.1 billion) in January, down 51 percent month on month, while up 30 percent year on year.
The top five cities with the highest land sales were Hangzhou, Shanghai, Chengdu, Beijing and Ningbo, with respective total land sale transaction values of RMB 52.9 billion ($8.2 billion), RMB 47.4 billion ($7.3 billion), RMB 22.0 billion ($3.4 billion), RMB 14.4 billion ($2.2 billion) and RMB 12.9 ($2 billion).
Shen Xin, analyst at CRIC, said that the areas transacted in land sales in the 40 cities will indicate a month-on-month decline in February due to the Chinese New Year holiday in the given month, while they will likely indicate a year-on-year rise due to the low base last year because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Moreover, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hangzhou have updated their regulatory policies for the real estate market, aiming to curb the overheating of housing prices. Shen Xin said he expects that the real estate market will indicate a decline in the first quarter this year.
$1 = RMB 6.4669