Land sales stalled in Guangzhou as debt mounts

The southern city of Guangzhou has been forced to drastically reduce land auctions since Beijing’s policies to cool land prices discourage investment from private developers, the Financial Times reported. “The sale of 32 sites was cancelled within two weeks. There has never been a situation like this in the history of Guangzhou,” said Peng Peng, a local academic. Land sales in the city were US$2.2 billion in the first nine months, far below the year-end target of US$7.9 billion. The shortage in sales threatens to create a crisis for local governments, which typically rely on land sales for 40% of their revenues. Last week, Guangdong province announced that its city and county governments held US$118.4 billion in debt at the end of 2010. Beijing has estimated that total local government debt equaled US$1.69 trillion at the end of last year.