These 340 hectares are the only publicly traded land to be put on the market in the city this year, despite a municipal government document stating last month that the figure for the whole of this year should reach 1,500 hectares.

No publicly traded land is coming on the market in key downtown districts such as Huangpu, Jing'an and Luwan, while suburban districts such as Fengxian and Jiading are dominating the bidding process.

But developers remain focused on the few downtown lots such as a 1.4-hectare tract in Huaxin Street, Changning District, which will be used for offices and retail outlets.

With its base price reaching 1.2 billion yuan (US$151.9 million), a tract of land in New Jiangwan City has attracted the interest of dozens of large domestic and foreign developers and is expected to become Shanghai's most expensive plot of land.

Developers also hope to find some clues about up-and-coming areas from the allocation of these lots. The largest tract of land available in this round of bidding is 31.77 hectares in Lin'gang New City, signalling the development of this new region neighbouring Shanghai Yangshan Deep Water Port.

According to the bidding documents, all land used for housing must abide by the central government's "90/70 requirement," which means homes of less than 90 square metres must account for at least 70 per cent of the residential project.

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