'That's why it's not unusual to see developers bidding for land zoned for residential property use at record high prices. One land auction this afternoon in Beijing though has garnered wide attention.

Xia Jia Hutong, is the last and only piece of available land within Beijing's city center that's marked for residential development. This afternoon, this golden plot of land went up for auction, attracting 14 real estate companies, including COSCO, Evergrande and KWG Property.

Xia Jia Hutong saw its value pushed up to 1.77 billion yuan or nearly 290 million US dollars during the auction with a premium of 23-percent. That puts the price per square meter at just over 23,000 yuan or 3,700 US dollars.