A report by China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows
investment in the country's property sector reached 721.4 billion
yuan (US$94.7 billion) in the first five months, an increase of
27.5 percent from the same period last year.
Of the total, 504.2 billion yuan was poured into residential
property, up 29.5 percent, of which 20.8 billion yuan was injected
into low-cost home construction, up 39.4 percent.
In the first five months, China's developers registered 1.21
trillion yuan of investment capital, up 26.2 percent from the same
period last year, of which foreign investment reached 22.2 billion
yuan, up 89.9 percent, the NBS said without elaborating.
The area of land under development reached 97.75 million square
meters, up 11.2 percent, while the floor space of buildings under
construction reached 1.56 billion square meters, up 21.9
percent.
By the end of May, the floor space of commercial property unsold
or unused totaled 127 million square meters, up 4.7 percent, of
which 68.25 million square meters was residential, up 1.4
percent.
The NBS report showed that China's housing climate index was
103.32 in May, 0.67 point higher than in April and 1.45 points
higher than May 2006.
The housing climate index has six sub-indices, including
property development, capital source, the area of land developed,
average sale prices of marketable buildings, the floor space of
marketable but unsold buildings and the floor space of buildings
under construction.
The property market is growing when the index is above 100 and
falling when it drops below 100.
(Xinhua News Agency June 20, 2007)