Land sales in China's 10 major cities more than doubled in the first month of 2013, fueled by the property developers' improved cash flow and expectations of a rosy real estate market this year.

Ten key cities tracked by Shanghai E-house Real Estate Research Institute saw land sales fees of 56.2 billion yuan ($8.9 billion) in January, up 263 percent year-on-year, the institute's data showed on Sunday.

The land area sold in those cities last month was 26 million square meters, an increase of 77 percent year-on-year.

The 10 cities include Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Tianjin.

"Last year's market recovery has helped most property developers improve their cash flow greatly, and the optimistic expectations for this year further strengthened their confidence and made them snap more land," said Wu Xiaojun, a researcher with Shanghai E-house Real Estate Research Institute.