BEIJING — Land sales in China's 300 major cities dropped by nearly 50 percent year-on-year in January, as the property market cools down amid the government's rigorous measures.

Land-transferring fees in Beijing and Shanghai fell by nearly 70 percent, statistics from China Index Academy, a Beijing-based real estate consultancy company, showed today. Guangzhou saw a drop close to 90 percent.

Meanwhile, the price of land parcels is also falling. According to the academy, the average price premium in the 300 cities it monitored stood at 2 percent last month, down 29 percentage points compared to the same period of last year.