An auction for a prime plot of land in Shanghai attracted heavy bidding and a record price yesterday.

The 142,108-sq-m site in the Putuo district of Shanghai, with an estimated gross floor area of 312.637 sq m, was sold to Hong Kong-listed China Overseas Land & Investment for 7 billion yuan, or 22,409 yuan per sq m floor space.

The plot in the Changfeng area drew dozens of property developers from home and abroad, including Greentown, Shanghai-listed Poly Real Estate, Singaporean Yanlord, and Shenzhen-based China Overseas Land.

Eventually, China Overseas Land, a subsidiary of China State Construction Engineering Corp, China's biggest home builder that went public this July, outbid high-profile Greentown China Holdings Ltd's last offer by more than 500 million yuan and bagged the site for more than twice the listed price of 3.058 billion yuan.

Soaring land value is making a comeback in China's real estate market, analysts said. Last July, when property developers were hit hardest by the credit crunch, part of the plot was listed at 1.6 billion yuan but found no bidders. However, only 14 months later, the expanded plot became the focus of great interest.

Many market observers did expect a new "land king" from the auction, especially after Zhejiang-based Greentown raised its offer to 5.628 billion yuan one day before bidding began in earnest. That means, the final land value will be no lower than 18,000 yuan per sq m floor space, exceeding the previous 14,500 yuan record set in Beijing.

China Overseas Land was determined to secure the land, backed by ample credit and optimism over Shanghai's land market, according to Xue Jianxiong, an analyst with E-House (China) Holdings Ltd.

Source:cctv.com


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