Robust land deals bring strength to realty sector

Demand for plots in Shanghai, Beijing surges after developers pay record prices

The property market correction is continuing, but developers are quietly snapping up land in first-tier cities, betting the sector will warm up again in 2015.

According to Centaline Group's market research unit, combined receipts from land sales so far this year in the four first-tier cities - Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen - hit 451.9 billion yuan ($73.8 billion) as of Tuesday. The average price was 8,342 yuan per square meter, up 53.4 percent from 2013.