A piece of land in the modern developing district of Pudong in Shanghai has been auctioned off at 1.7-billion yuan five times the opening bid price. It's the highest price jump in a bidding price this year.

Based on this land price, houses outside Shanghai's outer ring are expected to reach 30-thousand yuan per square meter.

The lot with the record-setting price covers an area of 60-thousand square meters.

Even though villagers are still living there, and it is 20-kilometers from downtown 21 property developers showed up for the auction. The fierce competition forced some developers to give up.

Jielong Group, Bidder, said, "I don't know why the price is so high. People are getting crazy."

But some believe, even though the central government has extended the waiver period of property tax from two years to five years, the policy cannot stop the rise of house prices.

Shanghai Pudong Group, Bider, said, "There is no upper limit on house prices. Just like the market for gold or diamonds, as long as there is demand, there is no limit."

Green Town Group, Bidder, said, "The new policy won't affect much."

With this attitude, Green Town won the bidding with a price five times above the basic price.

The price is 1,661,110,000 yuan.

The last land action occurred in January last year with a final price of 5-thousand yuan per square meter. After two years, the price rose more than three times. Some attribute the increase to insufficient land supply.

Cheng Fei, Official Dangzhen Township, Putong, said, "Not much land was sold in past years and only two lots have been announced as sold."

To prevent housing developers from simply holding their property, it is required for homes to be completed within three years.