(Yicai Global) Nov. 30 -- A handful of major Chinese cities have held additional land auctions recently after those earlier this year failed to attract enough interest to meet their annual targets amid a deep property market slump.

Beijing raked in CNY13.5 billion (USD1.9 billion) from a land use right auction that ended yesterday. Among other cities, Hangzhou in Zhejiang province sold plots worth CNY9.9 billion (USD1.4 billion), while Wuhan in Hubei province bagged CNY3.5 billion at auction.

Twenty-two key cities have auctioned 7,135 hectares of land as of Nov. 24, just 55 percent of their annual sales goal of 12,875 hectares, data from the China Index Academy showed.

A fixed scheme of three auctions a year was introduced in early 2021 to cool the then red hot real estate market. More lots were put up for auction at the same time to reduce price markups with increasing land supply.

It was quite successful. Since then, combined with other property regulations implemented later, along with slowing demand amid a lower economic growth rate, the land auction market quickly cooled.

To rekindle the market, some cities have started to add additional auctions. Many cities plan more this year to meet their annual targets, with Wuhan organizing six more by the end of next month. Changsha in Hunan province earlier announced that it will shift away from the regular scheme altogether to a more flexible one.

Though the land auction results in most cities remained subdued, Beijing and Shanghai were the exception, according to the China Index Academy report, as the positive results of yesterday's auction in Beijing showed.

Many developers bought plots in the capital in the latest auction to reach their annual investment goal, as the industry’s market environment is improving thanks to stimulus policies announced this month.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Martin Kadiev