The number of property development sites sold by the central government halved last month and the sharp drop in sales is expected to continue throughout this year.
There were 921 sites sold in 129 cities last month, according to mainland property agency Homelink. This represented a decline of 50 per cent month on month, or a drop of 52 per cent when compared with sales in January last year.
The decline was mainly seen in the big cities.
In Shanghai, total land sales revenue last month amounted to 2.62 billion yuan (HK$3.22 billion), down 70 per cent year on year.
In Guangzhou, land sales revenue dropped to just 290 million yuan last month, against 2.8 billion yuan in the same month last year.
'Hit by the tough cooling measures, the property market has drastically slowed down,' said Li Wenjie, head of Centaline Property Agency's northeast region.
