China has taken back 12,000 mu (800 hectares) of hoarded land by July amid other efforts to dampen the overheated property market, said the Ministry of Land and Resources Thursday.

The wrongdoers have been fined a total of 480 million yuan (US$70.90 million).

The campaign from March to July this year found 169,500 mu of hoarded land in the real estate sector, or a total of 2,815 cases, said Liao Yonglin, an official with the ministry, at a press conference.

About 31 percent of the hoarded land was left unused for more than five years, Liao said.

The crackdown would continue unabated for several more months before being wound down no later than the end of October, Liao said.

The Chinese government has taken a tough stance towards the real estate sector this year -- in hope of cooling it down.

Vice Premier Li Keqiang said last Friday that the government would continue to regulate the housing market and resolutely crack down on speculative property investment.

(Xinhua News Agency August 20, 2010)