Shanghai has launched a city-wide land-transaction market, which began operation on Saturday.

The Shanghai Land Transaction Market in Pudong New Area has been introduced to establish a unified, fair and transparent platform for all the city's land transaction services, officials said.

Its main functions include distributing land information, conducting land bidding and auctioning, and offering brokerage services.

All land-related deals - including acquiring, leasing and the transfer of land-development rights - are required to be completed through the market. Previously, such transactions were secured through district- and county-level centers.

"With the establishment of this market, all land transactions will be conducted in a more transparent and fair business environment," said Fang Lei, spokeswoman for the Shanghai Land and Resources Administration Bureau.

Preparatory works to set up the central market began in the second half of 2007 and trials were completed in January this year.

Shanghai introduced its public land-transferring mechanism early in 2003, with all land transfers required to be completed through public bidding and auctioning.

China's real-estate market has been witnessing a boom over the past few years, with land and housing prices soaring amid robust demand from both speculative investors and end-users.

Housing prices in 70 major Chinese cities jumped an average 7.6 percent last year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics of China.

A rather tight land supply, together with a strong housing demand, has been attributed as the major reason, real estate industry people said.

(Shanghai Daily March 3, 2008)