China's "land kings" under threat as tightening takes a toll

Commercial and residential buildings stand in Beijing February 8, 2014. REUTERS/Jason Lee

HONG KONG (Reuters) - The days of Chinese developers snatching up premium properties with record-breaking offers are coming to an end as cooling measures bite and sale prices are squeezed, ending the reign of a handful of "land kings" in the world's second-largest economy.

First coined during the stimulus-fuelled 2009 real-estate boom, the Chinese expression is used to describe developers - at the time mostly state-owned companies - willing to pay whatever it took to secure land banks.