(Yicai Global) June 5 -- Hangzhou has topped the list of Chinese cities that  collected the most money in land transfer duties last month. 

Hangzhou made CNY26.6 billion (USD3.8 billion) in land transfer tax, more than  any of the other studied 49 major Chinese cities, real estate agency  Centaline Property said in a report that was published yesterday.  Hangzhou raked in CNY113.4 billion in the five months ended May. 

The land transfer tax revenues of 50 cities rose 12.3 percent from the  previous year to CNY1.59 trillion (USD230.2 billion) in the five  months. The related  tallies of northeastern Tianjin, southwestern Chongqing, as well as  eastern Jinan and Changzhou each exceeded CNY20 billion (USD2.9 billion)  last month.

Hangzhou has received many new residents, partly spurred by its growing  information technology companies, including Alibaba Group Holding. The  number of new permanent residents in Hangzhou has increased over the  past four years to amount to 914,000, according to statistics from Yicai  Global.

Many real estate developers have completed financing with lowered costs, and  thus much land was transferred in the period from April to May, said  Zhang Dawei, chief analyst of Centaline Property.

In April, China eased household registration requirements in smaller  cities to allow more migrants to buy housing and be included in local  social insurance systems. The reform will draw more people to move into  second-tier cities, industry insiders told Yicai Global. 

Editor: Emmi Laine