Housing land costs climb up in first-tier cities

Prices for land plots in first-tier cities have been driven to higher-than-expected levels by property developers, raising expectations about a continuous rise in both home prices and land prices in the future, China Business News reported Tuesday, citing the latest report by a research agency under the Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR).

In Shanghai, the sales revenue for land plots hit 70.38 billion yuan ($11.49) in the first half, up 373 percent compared with the same period of last year, according to China Land Surveying and Planning, an agency in charge of monitoring land prices across the country.

"Ample cash flow for developers is the major cause of the recent fever for land, especially in the first-tier cities," the report said.

The report also noted that the land prices will further rise as developers showed increasing enthusiasm for buying more land plots.

The total supply of land for residential use in the first half hit a five-year high for year-on-year growth, with the average land price in major cities nationwide seeing an obvious rise, according to data released by the MLR on July 30.

Land supply for home-building was 55,300 hectares in the first half, up 36.9 percent year-on-year, the MLR said.

Prices of both new and existing homes continued to rise in most Chinese cities in June, according to official data released on July 18.

Of a statistical pool of 70 major Chinese cities, 63 cities saw month-on-month home price rise, the National Bureau of Statistics said.