Despite government efforts to cool down the Chinese real estate
market, investment in the sector increased markedly in the first
quarter of this year, the National Development and Reform
Commission announced on Tuesday.
Between January and March, the real estate sector used 354.4
billion yuan (US$46 billion) nationwide, a year-on-year growth of
26.9 percent. The growth rate was 6.7 percent higher than the
previous year and 1.6 percent higher than the growth rate for fixed
assets investment in urban areas.
The three-month period saw 712.5 billion yuan (US$92.5 billion)
earmarked for real estate development, up 26.3 percent.
The total included 13.1 billion yuan (US$1.7 billion) in foreign
capital, up 154 percent. Of the foreign capital, foreign direct
investment accounted for 10.26 billion yuan, up 193 percent.
NDRC said the total capital earmarked for real estate
development included 163.4 billion yuan (US$21.2 billion) in bank
loans for project development, up 18.4 percent, and 74.5 billion
yuan (US$9.7 billion) in mortgage-based loans for individual home
buyers, up 73.2 percent.
(Xinhua News Agency April 17, 2007)