BEIJING, Jan. 9 -- China's government has stepped up efforts to make housing accessible to low-income earners as property prices have sky-rocketed, new data from the country's housing authorities revealed on Thursday.

The country started the construction of 24.9 million affordable housing units from 2011 to 2013, accounting for nearly 70 percent of the construction target of 36 million affordable units during the 2011-2015 period, according to the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.

From 2011 to 2013, China finished constructing 15.77 million affordable units, which included the renovation of run-down neighborhoods for 6.68 million households.

The affordable housing program, first approved in 1999, is designed to provide less costly houses to wage-earning workers and low-rent homes to poverty-stricken residents.

The program was especially intended to allow low-income families to own a house as the country's real estate sector overheated in recent years.