BEIJING (Reuters) – Revenue from land sales by China’s local governments dropped 16% in 2024 compared with the previous year, finance ministry data showed on Friday.
The decline was 22.4% in the period from January to November and 13.2% for the whole of 2023.
Selling land use rights to property developers used to be a major source of income for local authorities, but a prolonged property market slump has slashed such revenue as developers have scaled back their land acquisitions.
The drop in land sales revenue has hit the coffers of local governments, which are tasked with developing local economies while reining in debt risks.
The Chinese government has implemented a series of measures to reduce risks stemming from local government debt and the property market, the central bank governor said on Jan. 13.
(Reporting by Yukun Zhang and Ryan Woo; editing by Jason Neely)
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