Bloomberg and staff reporter

Chinese state-backed developers are starting to buy land at a premium again after the government eased limits on home prices to revive a slumping market that's been a drag on the economy for more than four years.

The number of land parcels that sold for at least 20 percent above the asking price accounted for 37 percent of deals this year, according to a Bloomberg analysis of transactions worth at least 1 billion yuan (HK$1.07 billion) tracked by China Index Academy.

That compares with just 14 percent for all of last year and 4.6 percent in 2023.