But land revenues were still down 17.9 percent in the first 10 months in the cities, which include Beijing and Shanghai, data from real estate services firm E-House China (>> E-House (China) Holdings Limited (ADR)) showed.
Selling land to developers is a major source of income for China's local governments, but a cooldown in the housing market since last year has crimped developers' demand for land.
The 10 biggest Chinese cities earned 588.9 billion yuan (61 billion pounds) from land sales in the January to October period, including 73.1 billion yuan in October, according to E-House.
Following a year-long slump, home sales and prices have increased in bigger cities over recent months, helped by a barrage of government measures aimed at reviving the key sector to arrest an economic slowdown.
Still, analysts do not expect a full-blown turnaround any time soon in the housing market, as a huge overhang of unsold homes discourages new construction and investment.
(Reporting By Xiaoyi Shao and Nick Heath; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
