Sino-Ocean Land Holdings Ltd, a major real estate developer listed in Hong Kong, yesterday bought two land parcels in north Shanghai's Baoshan District for 1.9 billion yuan (US$280 million) through two subsidiaries.

The plots are zoned for homes and are in the central areas of Luodian New Town. The parcels, covering an area of 43,300 square meters and 107,824 square meters, were sold at a per gross floor area price of 20,100 yuan per square meter and 21,300 yuan per square meter, respectively.

Starting prices for the two plots were both around 16,000 yuan per square meter.

"The latest results have indicated that land prices in the Luodian area have more than doubled over the past year," said Gong Min, a research manager with Shanghai Centaline Property Consultants Ltd, operator of the city's largest estate chain.

"High-end villas will be built on the two parcels which might be able to fetch a sale price of between 35,000 yuan to 40,000 yuan per square meter upon completion."

In September 2009, land zoned for homes about 1.5 kilometers from Sino-Ocean Land's latest buys was sold at a per GFA price of 9,128 yuan per square meter, then the highest in the area, according to Centaline research.

At the moment, new apartments in Luodian are sold between 17,000 yuan and 18,000 yuan per square meter while villas cost between 26,000 yuan to 33,000 yuan per square meter on average, industry statistics show.