Developers jostle for land to catch market bottom

BEIJING - China Vanke, the nation's largest property developer, has won a series of land bids since the start of July, reinforcing signs that well-funded developers are trying to catch the bottom of the property market.

Vanke has paid over 6 billion yuan ($952.38 million) for land plots in cities including Hangzhou, Chongqing, Ningbo, Chengdu and Shanghai since last month.

On Wednesday, the developer bought a tract of land with a total area of 110,000 square meters in Shanghai for 2.03 billion yuan.

Moreover, other big developers have also rushed to get land in recent months, as they were flush with funds and land prices were much lower compared with previous years after the government introduced a slew of measures to cool the country's sizzling property sector.

Poly Real Estate, the country's second-largest developer, purchased 9 plots of land for 3 billion yuan in June, adding 1.67 million square meters of land to its reserves.

Also in June, Evergrande Real Estate paid 2.78 billion yuan for 10 tracts of land with a total area of 900,000 square meters.

Li Ying, a researcher with China Real Estate Information Corp., said competition for quality land plots among developers will become more intense in the third quarter with more land sites coming to market, which will likely push land prices higher.

Data from the China Index Academy showed the average home price in 100 major cities rose for a second month in July, increasing 0.33 percent from a month earlier.

Chinese leaders reiterated Tuesday that the central government will "resolutely" carry out policies to adjust and control the real estate market in order to prevent housing prices from rebounding.