Spatial-temporal evolution characteristics of residential land prices based on the 2010-2019 land transfer data in China

Studying spatial-temporal change in residential land prices (RLP) can help implement real estate regulations to promote the healthy development of the residential land market. This study applied the urban scaling law to explore the spatial-temporal pattern of RLP from 2010 to 2019 in China. We found rapid growth in RLP across China from 2010 to 2019, with a growth rate of 179.12%. Among them, the Eastern Region had the highest RLP and growth rates. Furthermore, differences in RLP between large cities and small-medium cities widened, indicating a trend of the Matthew effect in prefecture-level cities. Moreover, the scale-adjusted metropolitan indicator (SAMI) indicated urban agglomerations including Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH), Yangtze River Delta (YRD), Guangdong-Fujian-Zhejiang Coastal (GFZ), and Pearl River Delta (PRD) located in the Eastern Region had higher RLP than urban agglomerations with the same population size. In addition, the SAMI also highlighted disproportionately high RLP in some small-medium cities compared to equivalent cities, warranting regulatory policy attention.