BEIJING, Dec. 1 -- China's top statistics bureau has suggested barring land-hoarding developers from entering future plot auctions to help curb the country's overheating real estate industry.

    The advice came after the bureau reported last week that investment in the mainland real-estate market jumped 31.4 percent in the first 10 months of this year from 2006 to 1.92 trillion yuan (259 billion U.S. dollars).

    The 31.4-percent growth outpaced the 30.3-percent growth in the first nine months and the 29-percent growth through August.

    Developers which are found to have held land should be denied access to land auctions, the National Bureau of Statistics said late on Thursday in a research report.

    The bureau also suggested that developers should pay annual land taxes instead of the present practice of paying single land-use fees to the government.

    Currently, developers are required to pay land-use fees when the government leases land to them.

    The country "should control land scale (for property development) to a reasonable level and push forward more policies to ensure long-term supply," the bureau said.

    "It should strictly crack down on land-related illegal activities and keep the land price at a relatively reasonable level."

    The bureau also called for close supervision of excessive overseas investments and stock market funds flowing into the real estate industry as it has already showed signs of possible overheating, the report said.

    China has issued a string of policies to cool down the hyperactive property market, such as tightening credit to developers, increasing supervision of land use and enforcing tax policies.

    However, the boom so far shows no signs of slowing as major cities have all reported rapid growth this year.

    October's average housing price in the Chinese mainland's 70 biggest cities jumped 9.5 percent on a yearly basis, compared with September's 8.9-percent growth rate, according to the National Development and Reform Commission.

    The real estate climate index grew 2.34 points in October from a year earlier to 105.74, a growth of 0.75 points from September, according to the bureau.

    The People's Bank of China has raised borrowing costs five times this year, and Premier Wen Jiabao pledged to limit land use and tighten investment-project approvals to prevent an asset bubble.

    (Source: Shanghai Daily)