Land prices in first-tier cities jumped 85% last year

Night view of skyscrapers and high-rise buildings of Jianwai Soho and Yintai Center in CBD in Beijing. [Photo/IC]

Land prices in first-tier cities averaged to 13,745 yuan ($2,089.24) per square meter last year, surging 85 percent from the previous year, the China Economic Net reported on Wednesday citing data from E-house China R&D Institute.

In December alone, land prices rose 46.8 percent year on year to 10,436 yuan per square meter but the area sold fell 31.3 percent to 6.35 million square meters in first-tier cities.

Real estate services institution E-House predicted a continuous upturn in land price growth this year, with a 10 percent year-on-year increase, partly due to a recovery in the property sector and limited land supply in first-tier cities.

China's property market took a downturn in 2014 due to weak demand and a supply glut. This cooling continued into 2015 and showed signs of recovery in summer and autumn with improving home prices.

New home prices in 70 major cities rose an average of 7.7 percent in December from a year earlier, quickening from November's 6.5 percent rise, the National Bureau of Statistics on Monday.

Over the next ten years, housing prices will double in first-tier cities, but there are no reasons for third and fourth-tier cities to witness price increases, the China Economic Net said quoting Ren Zeping, chief macroeconomic analyst at Guotai Junan Securities Co, as saying.

China's property investment growth eased to 1 percent in 2015, a sharp decrease from the 10.5-percent growth in 2014, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday.