Shanghai's land market plunges

Shanghai's land market snapped a one-month rally and plunged in August amid sluggish sentiment among real estate developers.

Excluding those designated for public uses or affordable housing, only six land parcels totaling 234,000 square meters — three of them for residential development — were sold across the city last month, a drop of 68 percent from July, the country's leading real estate website Fang.com, previously known as Soufun, said in a report released yesterday.

The transaction value also fell 60.2 percent month on month to 4.87 billion yuan (US$792 million).

"Supply and sales hit the third-lowest in 2014, evidence that developers had little interest in growing their land reserves in August," said Li Zongzhou, an analyst with Fang.com. "We expect the subdued pace to extend in the remainder of this year."