Beijing sees record 'land rush'

On a per capita basis, the amount would work out to 9,129 yuan for each resident of Beijing.

"All top 50 Chinese developers want a share in the Beijing market, which makes competition here really intense," said Yan Yuejin, an analyst with E-house China R&D Institute. "Driven by this, it is logical that Beijing's property market will enter the 'above 60,000 yuan era'."

"As the campaign to integrate Beijing with neighboring regions deepens, land prices in the capital's suburban areas will go up. So will home prices there," he said.

Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province are seeking to unify their economies into a "capital economic circle".

The latest bids also reflected a couple of market trends, analysts said.

For one thing, soaring prices prompted developers to bid in partnerships. That happened on both Wednesday and Monday. It took more than 50 and 20 rounds, respectively, for the winner to emerge.

For another, developers also have to accept stringent conditions by the government to win the bid. In each case, developers promised to allocate a considerable proportion of the land for price-capped homes, which significantly cuts their profits.

While Beijing's land sales climbed to a fresh high, most second- and third-tier cities saw their land sales revenue plunge by more than one-third last year.

According to the China Index Academy, first-tier cities in 2014 sold 506.8 billion yuan of land, down 3 percent. But that corresponded with smaller areas sold, and the average land price actually surged 41 percent.

In third-tier cities, however, land sales dropped 37 percent and the average land price fell 2 percent.