BEIJING - Land prices grew by 8.9 percent year-on-year to 3,000 yuan ($466.2) per square meter in the second quarter of this year, the Ministry of Land and Resources said Wednesday.

Prices for residential-zoned land rose 10.7 percent from a year earlier to 4,443 yuan per square meter in the second quarter, the ministry said in a statement posted on its website.

It also said that China allocated 210,300 hectares of land for the development of factories, property and infrastructure in the first half of this year, up 17.6 percent year-on-year.

Land earmarked for property development increased 4.9 percent to 70,200 hectares in July, up 4.9 percent from a year earlier, while land set aside for factory construction jumped 35.3 percent to 79,800 hectares, it said.