A BEIJING-BASED developer paid 4.6 billion yuan (US$742 million) today for a land plot in western Changning District, the highest land price paid in Shanghai so far this year.

The 40,355-square-meter plot in the vicinity of Hongqiao Road Metro Station is designated for cultural/sports/retail/office properties and fetched an average price of 29,229 yuan per square meter, 57 percent more than its starting price.

Several real estate developers including Gubei Group and New Changning Group, two major players in the district, participated in the auction.

The previous record was set in April when a 122,018-square-meter residential plot in Tangzhen, Pudong District fetched a total of over 3.7 billion yuan.

As of last week, land sales in Shanghai exceeded 40 billion yuan, according to Century 21 China Real Estate, one of the largest real estate agencies in Shanghai. That compared with 74 billion yuan for the whole year of 2012.