A 152,400-SQUARE-METER piece of land in Guangming New Area was auctioned for 14 billion yuan (US$2.14 billion), the highest amount ever paid for a single piece of land in China, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported Thursday.

    Logan Property Holdings Co. Ltd. won the auction, at a final price of 14.06 billion yuan, with the land price of 92,232 yuan per square meter. This means the cost of land for new homes built on the land will reach 27,623 yuan per square meter.

    The total price marked the highest amount of a land auction nationwide. The record was previously held by a land lot in Hangzhou being sold at 12.3 billion yuan in late May.

    “This land has a huge positional advantage, as the city’s high-tech industry is expanding from Nanshan District to Guangming New Area, and the region will see great prospects of industrial development,” said Wu Rui, head of Savills’s investment department.

    The land, located in the eastern area of a high-tech park in Guangming New Area, borders the Guangming government building, a five-star hotel and the Guanguang Station of the future Metro Line 6. Data showed that 18 pieces of commercial land, with an overall area of 678,000 square meters, were sold in the Fenghuangcheng area in Guangming last year.

    The land auctioned Wednesday occupies an area of 152,400 square meters. A total of 509,000 square meters in floor areas will be built on the land. The property developer will have 50-year land use rights, although parks, green space and roads on the land will be owned by the government and transferred to the government upon completion of the construction.

    Data from Centaline Property showed that new-home prices of residential estates near the land range from 35,000 to 38,000 yuan per square meter, while villas nearby were sold for 60,000 yuan per square meter on average. Most pre-owned housing in Guangming New Area was priced at 40,000 yuan per square meter, according to the Homelink Real Estate’s research center.

    Wu said the land’s floor-area land price would reach 37,000 yuan per square meter if the hotel, the shopping mall and public facilities to be constructed on the land were excluded. “The property developer may have to set the housing price at 52,000 yuan per square meter or above to make a profit,” he said.

    Wu said Logan Property Holdings Co. Ltd.’s role in Shenzhen’s real estate market will grow. The company bought land for commercial use near Hongshan Metro Station in Longhua New Area for 11.25 billion yuan in September, and also has land in Qianhai, Pingshan, Longhua and Guangming. (Zhang Yang)