A new report points to an ongoing cooling of land markets in urban centres across China.
Land transfer prices saw their fifth successive month of year-on-year decline in August while the land transaction premium fell to a 39 month low, according to the “August 2018 40 City Land Market Report” (2018年8月份40城土地市场报告)” released by the Shanghai E-house Real Estate Research Institute (易居房地产研究院) on 3 September.
The average land transfer price in August for the 40 Chinese cities monitored was 4,472 yuan per square metre, for a decline of 2.9% compared to the preceding month and a year-on-year decline of 17.7%.
The land premium rate for the 40 cities in August was 17.3%, for a decline of 1.7 percentage points compared to July, as well as a drop of 20.9 percentage points compared to the same period last year.
For a total of 10 Chinese cities including Shanghai, Shenzhen and Qingdao the land premium rate fell to zero in the month of August.
According to the report the national land transaction area remained stable overall in August. In first-tier cities it saw an 18.7% on-month rise, as well as a 25.8% YoY decline, while in second-tier cities it rose by 38.3% compared to the preceding month and 39% compared to the same period last year.
In third-tier cities the land transaction area declined by 24.3%, while rising 63.1% YoY.
The total land transaction area for the 40 cities monitored during the period from January to August was 313.061 million square metres, for an increase of 17.9% compared to the preceding month and a YoY rise of 20.3%.
Land transfer revenues were 1.4778 trillion yuan, for a YoY rise of 10.9%.
