Large cities see home prices rise

At the weekend's Central Economic Work Conference, the government vowed to continue its tightening policies next year.

"The key to addressing skyrocketing home prices is to increase land supply," Mao said.

Land supply for property from January to November decreased 8 percent annually, but the gap may be made up with land set aside for property in December, the Ministry of Land and Resources said on Tuesday.

Liao Yonglin, director of the ministry's land use and administration department, felt confident that land supply this year would be close to the 2011 level.

He said local authorities are busy drawing plans for 2013 and land set aside for property next year will be more than the average of the past five years.

Property prices have broken records recently.

On Dec 12, China Vanke and Greenland Group purchased a tract of land for commercial use in Shanghai for a city record of 5.43 billion yuan ($862 million).

On Nov 30, Metallurgical Corp of China Ltd paid 5.62 billion yuan for a site for commercial and residential use in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, a national record.

Although Liao insisted that the two examples do not generally reflect the land market, measures will be taken to stabilize prices.

The ministry will investigate the land deal in Nanjing, he said without further information.

Liao said the ministry will ask land authorities to divide property sites which have the potential to hit record prices into smaller areas during auction or to pack "good" and "bad" sites together for sale, to lower prices.

Contact the writers at huyuanyuan@chinadaily.com.cn