China's fixed-asset investment amounted to 95.5 billion yuan (11.5 billion U.S. dollars) in the first two months this year, growing 8.6 percent on an annual basis, the National Bureau of Statistics

Investment in the real estate sector enjoyed the fastest growth of 19.8 percent, hitting 24.6 billion

yuan (3 billion U.S. dollars), with one-third of the money going to commercial housing.

Analysts from the bureau attributed the rapid growth to the further implementation of housing

reforms and resurgent sales of commercial housing.

Between January and February, investment in the industrial sector picked up thanks to the strong

growth in renovation projects. Total investment reached 30.9 billion yuan (3.7 billion U.S. dollars),

up 8.2 percent year on year.

China launched 2,874 new projects in the two months, 818 more than the same period last year.

Among these, 970 were renovation projects, 513 more than the previous year.