Revenues from sales of land by local government to real estate developers in 300 cities in China amounted to RMB 770.7 billion ($108.6 billion) in the January-March period this year, down 10 percent year on year, as announced by the China Index Academy, a Beijing-based real estate research institute.
Meanwhile, in the first quarter of the year, the total area of land sold by local government to real estate developers amounted to 171.51 million square meters, down 23.0 percent year on year.
Wang Ruocheng, researcher at the China Index Academy, said that, though China’s economic development has come under big downward pressure recently due to the outbreak of the coronavirus, official policy regarding the real estate industry has remained steady: for instance, several cities’ attempts to loosen restrictions on purchases of residential houses were promptly withdrawn, signaling China’s unwillingness to utilize the real estate industry as a short-term stimulus to boost economic development. However, China will need to pay attention to the risk of a possible future sharp fall in the real estate market, he added.
$1 = RMB 7.0939