Measures fail to dampen interest in China sites
Big headache for the central government after developers pay 40.15b yuan for six plots of land
The mainland's market for land is heating up, with six sites in three major cities selling yesterday for record or very high prices, even though Beijing is sticking with tough measures designed to check rising property prices.
Sun Hung Kai Properties, Hong Kong's largest developer by market value, paid a record 21.77 billion yuan for a prime commercial site in Xujiahui, a shopping and entertainment precinct in Shanghai. It was the second-highest price paid for a block of land on the mainland, trailing only the former Asian Games City site in Guangzhou, which sold for 25.5 billion yuan in 2010.
In Hangzhou, Greenland, Shimao Property and Binjiang Real Estate paid a total of 13.66 billion yuan for three commercial-residential sites, 40 per cent above the minimum bids required. Two luxury residential sites in Suzhou Industrial Park went to Shimao for 4.72 billion yuan.
On Wednesday, Sunac China paid 2.1 billion yuan, or 73,000 yuan per square metre, for a residential site in Beijing, setting a record for price per square metre in the capital.
Vincent Cheung Kiu-cho, national director for Greater China at valuers Cushman & Wakefield, said the high prices paid by "land kings" could be a source of concern for the central government.