Beijing land auction expected to break record

Records are being broken at land auctions in both Beijing and Shanghai, with astronomical prices being paid for land in both cities. The buyers of these pricy plots of land are dubbed "land kings", and the new owners have forked out up to three billion yuan for the crown.

Land within the fourth ring-road in east Beijing is a rare treasure to find in land auctions.

The 60,000 square meters' building area near the National Agriculture Exhibition Centre has been priced at over 33,000 yuan ($5,500) per square meter, far exceeding the price the current land king had paid for its crown jewels in July this year.

The relocation has already started a while back, as a hospital used to stand there, but has been moved about one week ago.

A Beijing resident said, "Last week it opened as usual, but the next day, they sticked a notice on the wall which said it had moved away, it was sold. It moved overnight."

Meanwhile, Shanghai saw its newly crowned king of land on Tuesday. A plot of land with the size of two football grounds has seen its unit price landing at a record breaking 36,176 yuan per square meter. The land is near the Bund area in downtown Shanghai, surrounded by high-end residential buildings and bustling commercial centers.

Mr Yuan, agent of Centaline Property, said, "In low seasons apartment prices are cheaper, it's around 70,000 or 80,000 yuan. But now prices all surged to around 120,000, and they are pretty hot at the moment."

Shanghai residents are optimistic on the trend of the property prices, with some expecting the unit price to climb above 100,000 yuan per square metre. Prices are expected to climb once again in both Beijing and Shanghai, but experts say Beijing's land king in waiting will only affect the second-hand property market, rather than influencing the overall property market.