The Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR) cancelled a land auction in Beijing after bidding exceeded the price ceiling, Bloomberg reported. The ministry’s branch in the Chinese capital said it began setting limits on land prices this month on a trial basis. When bids for the Beijing lot, zoned for residential development, hit RMB4,718 (US$691) per square meter, passing the ceiling of RMB4,700, the auction was ended. As part of efforts to rein in property price growth – when developers pay a premium for land they pass the cost on to home buyers – last month real estate firms were required to pay higher deposits for land purchases. Banks have also been banned from lending to developers that hoard land. The MLR’s Beijing branch said this month it started limiting how much land developers can buy. Separately, the MLR’s Shanghai bureau said it had postponed a land auction until May due to a "technical hitch."
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