(Yicai) Dec. 31 -- Chengdu, one of the largest cities in western China, has raked in more than CNY85 billion (USD11.7 billion) from selling residential land this year, ranking fourth among major Chinese cities.

The last housing land auction transactions in Chengdu concluded yesterday, with the city's total annual income from such sales jumping 20 percent from a year earlier.

Chengdu's land market boomed in the first half of this year, repeatedly seeing new records in land sale prices, Huang Xue, general manager of China Index Academy's Sichuan branch, told Yicai. However, the market sentiment cooled in the second half, with transactions in prime core areas failing to set new records, she noted, adding that some plots sold at low premiums or even at the bottom price, while others remained unsold.

For example, Guomao Real Estate faced fierce competition in an auction for a plot in the Yixinqiao area of Jinjiang district in June, eventually paying CNY35,500 (USD5,075) per square meter, representing a 76 percent premium, Huang said. But when a second plot in the same area was auctioned in September, it paid just CNY25,100 per sqm, representing a 20 percent premium, she pointed out.

The relative heat in Chengdu's land market in the first half was partly due to the large number of plots offered in the city's core areas, attracting competition from cash-rich developers, especially larger firms, which repeatedly set price records, Huang noted, adding that the share of plots launched in peripheral areas increased in the second half.

Against the backdrop of the steady rise in the average land price in core urban areas, high-quality plots in peripheral areas also became attractive for many builders at auctions, who attempted to gain consumers' favor through better real estate design and construction, Huang said.

Leading developers with strong asset strength, especially central state-owned enterprises, were more inclined to compete for high-quality plots in core areas, while private firms preferred to participate in auctions for plots with relatively controllable prices and less intense competition, she pointed out.

Chengdu's new housing market has maintained strong resilience over the past four years, ranking first in the country by transaction area, Huang said. The formation of a hierarchical housing consumption system of "rent-first-then-buy, old-first-then-new" is accelerating, creating favorable conditions for the relatively stable performance of the local real estate and land markets, she stressed.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Martin Kadiev