China major cities' October land revenues rise 24% y-o-y

[BEIJING] Local government revenue from land sales in China's 10 biggest cities rose 24 percent in October from a year earlier, a private survey showed, pointing to early signs of price stabilisation in the property market.

But land revenues were still down 17.9 per cent in the first 10 months in the cities, which include Beijing and Shanghai, data from real estate services firm E-House China showed.

Selling land to developers is a major source of income for China's local governments, but a cooldown in the housing market since last year has crimped developers' demand for land.

The 10 biggest Chinese cities earned 588.9 billion yuan (S$131.6 billion) from land sales in the January to October period, including 73.1 billion yuan in October, according to E-House.

Following a year-long slump, home sales and prices have increased in bigger cities over recent months, helped by a barrage of government measures aimed at reviving the key sector to arrest an economic slowdown.

Still, analysts do not expect a full-blown turnaround any time soon in the housing market, as a huge overhang of unsold homes discourages new construction and investment.

REUTERS