Sales of land in China saw a steep decline as the property industry cooled and the country faces economic slowdown, the Ministry of Finance said on Tuesday.

Land sales by local governments only amounted to 3.37 trillion yuan ($17.8 billion), down nearly 22 percent year-on-year.

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Central China's sales plummeted by 17.3 percent, while east and west China posted a 23.6 and 21.2 percent sales decline, respectively. Only a few cities reported sales growth, with Shenzhen topping the list at 36.9 percent year-on-year.

"Shenzhen's land sales were mainly due to its red-hot property market and the booming economy, which pushed land prices higher," the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

Dalian experienced the deepest plunge at 56.4 percent, while Zhejiang province's Ningbo city and Inner Mongolia autonomous region were also down by more than half.

On February, China announced it will limit or stop the release of land for residential housing projects especially on locations were supply is glut, a move to clear property overhang weighing on the economy.

The new policy reveals that commercial property developers in cities and other areas dealing with huge levels of unsold inventory will no longer be issued vacant lots, while cities that successfully minimized inventories will be awarded with new land allocation permits, according to Jiang Daming, the country's land minister.

Furthermore, Chinese authorities have also announced new strategies to enhance China's housing economy. The finance ministry said that transaction taxes and down payment requirements for both first- and second-time buyers will be reduced in several cities.

Tagsland sales, china, property industry, economic slowdown