High land auction prices won't affect residential properties

The recent auction of land parcels at record prices won't affect costs across China, the country's land watchdog said on Thursday.

The Ministry of Land and Resources said most of the land parcels auctioned at record prices are for commercial use in the first-tier cities and municipalities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, and those sales cannot influence the price of residential properties across the country.

Auctions in the first half of the year shows the country's land market is cooling down, with about 408 square kilometers of residential land supplied from January to June, about 21 percent less than the same period last year, according to the ministry's latest statistics.

Statistics also show the growth of the country's key cities has slowed down before June this year.

The ministry said it will continue its policy of cooling down the real estate market and to use idle land that has been hoarded by developers for more than two years.

Beijing on Tuesday saw a new high price land plot auctioned. The developer paid 2.63 billion yuan ($413 million) for the 38,869-square-meter Wanliu residential land, the Beijing Land Reserve Center said.