Land sale revenue rise 'unsustainable'

Weak housing market has troubling effect on local government financing

Compared with the first-quarter growth rate of the nation's fiscal revenue, local governments' land sale revenue growth was nothing short of spectacular. But that critical source of funds is threatened by weakening property sales.

Land sale revenue rose 40.3 percent year-on-year to 1.08 trillion yuan ($174 billion) during the first quarter, said Finance Minister Luo Jiwei.