Shanghai Daily news

Though organizers weren't talking, real estate analysts gave generally high grades to Shanghai's first land auction held under new rules designed to provide more control over the booming property market.
Among the 44 plots put up for sale yesterday by the city housing authority, at least 26 found owners, including 18 in downtown areas such as Hongkou, Huangpu and Changning districts, according to a survey conducted by Shanghai Daily among district-level land offices.
The Shanghai Housing and Land Administrative Bureau will disclose the official bidding results on its Website, www.shfdz.gov.cn, next Wednesday.
The auction offered 2.77 million square meters of government-owned land in 15 districts, most of which was allocated for residential projects.
The sale was aimed at increasing the supply of new apartments across town.
"The results were generally good both for developers and land regulators," said Zhu Huiping, director of the Shenyang Property Agency. "However, many investors were not able to properly assess the value of the land they bid on."
Indeed, perhaps the only downside to the day came when all the offers on at least nine plots, mainly in suburban areas, failed to conform to the new rules.
For yesterday's auction, the city's land authority evaluated bid proposals using a new scoring system, which consists of the offer price, project planning and feasibility, and the developer's business performance and credit rating.
The offer price accounted for 70 percent of the total 100 points, while planning was worth 10 points.
In addition to stipulating a floor price, the land regulator also set a ceiling to prevent developers from running up housing prices due to high land costs.
Shanghai's Housing Index, which tracks both prices and trading volume, jumped 13.1 percent in the first 10 months of this year.
The city housing regulator predicted an annual growth rate of 15 percent this year, compared with 33 percent a year earlier.
The most expensive bid in terms of price per square meter came in for a plot covering 9,373 square meters in the city's northern Hongkou District.
Shanghai Xinzhou Real Estate Co acquired the land on Jinian Road after offering 92.8 million yuan (US$11.18 million).
As such, land costs alone for each apartment will amount to 6,050 yuan a square meter.
That parcel was the only residential-use land available in Hongkou District this year as the government tightened controls on land transfers.
Existing properties around that plot are now trading at around 11,000 yuan to 12,000 yuan a square meter, even for second-hand apartments.
Among the other pricey deals, Shanghai Gold Bund (Group) Development Co won 50-year land use rights for a parcel near the Bund in Huangpu District.
The plot covers 11,675 square meters and is now home to many old residential units, which will be dismantled by the end of 2006.
Shanghai Gold beat two other bidders with an offer of 660 million yuan.
"It's expensive, but it's worth the money," said Zhao Zengqi, head of the company's investment and development division.
Zhao said the land will be used for commercial buildings.