Development land supply at record high

China's land supply for property development hit a record high of 82,400 hectares in the first half of the year, the Xinhua News Agency reported Sunday, citing data from the Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR), the country's land watchdog.

This represents year-on-year growth of 38.8 percent and a jump of 17.3 percent from 2011 when the reading rose to its second highest level, according to the MLR statistics, which also indicated that land supply for residential use soared 36.9 percent year-on-year to 55,300 hectares in the first half.

Local governments nationwide have stepped up land supply for residential use this year, said the Xinhua report, quoting Sun Yinghui, director of policy and law with the ministry.

Out of China's 31 provincial regions, only four saw a decline in supply of land while the rest all posted rising supplies, Sun revealed, noting that Beijing as well as Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces were among the areas seeing the biggest jumps.

The surging figures underscore the Chinese government's pledge to boost land supply as a way of putting the brakes on runaway home prices.

Average new home prices in 70 major Chinese cities climbed 0.8 percent in June from a month earlier, easing slightly from May's month-on-month gain of 0.9 percent, according to Reuters calculations from data released by the National Bureau of Statistics.

On a year-on-year basis, however, new home prices rose 6.8 percent in June, the fastest pace since the Reuters calculation started in January 2011.

The China Land Index, released Sunday by the MLR, also pointed to a continuously red-hot property sector. The index neared an alarming level in the second quarter, up 29.5 percent from the previous quarter and 11.4 percent from a year earlier, said the ministry, citing soaring property investment as the main force driving up the index.