Shrinking land sales cast financial shadow on local govts

Local governments sold much less land for real estate development last year as the property sector hit a rough patch, casting a shadow over their financial condition.

New home construction used 151,000 hectares of land in 2014, plummeting 25.5 percent from a year earlier, the Ministry of Land and Resources said in a report.

Earlier data released by the ministry showed land sales revenue still grew by 3.2 percent, but it was a sharp decline from the 44.6 percent rise in revenues generated the previous year during a boom in the property market.