Chinese cities have seen their revenues from land sales leap to record highs in 2020 despite the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the period from January to November 50 Chinese cities collectively obtained revenues of 3.67 trillion yuan (approx. USD$560.44 billion) from land sales, for a YoY rise of 20.8%, according to data from Centaline Property Agency.
The figures mark unprecedented highs for Chinese urban land sale revenues in terms of both volume and growth.
As of 7 December 11 Chinese cities have sealed over 100 billion yuan in land sales, while more than 30 have sold land for revenues of more than 50 billion yuan.
Shanghai, Hangzhou and Guangzhou all saw land sale revenues of over 200 billion yuan. Shanghai’s land sale revenues were 277.3 billion yuan, for a YoY rise of 56.76%, while Guangzhou posted 224.9 billion yuan in land sale revenues, for a YoY surge of 75.63%
Another eight Chinese cities posted land sale revenues of over 100 billion yuan, including Nanjing, Beijing, Wuhan, Ningbo, Foshan, Suzhou, Chengdu and Chongqing.
Nanjing’s land sale revenues were 189.8 billion yuan, for a YoY rise of 25.35% and Beijing’s totalled 180.2 billion yuan, for YoY rise of 15.71%.
Foshan’s land sale revenues totalled 123.4 billino yuan, for a YoY surge of 72.87%.
Centaline chief analyst Zhang Dawei (张大伟) said that following the full recovery of the Chinese economy and the loose availability of funds, real estate companies had become more assertive about grabbing land, leading to transactions with high premium rates in multiple locations.
