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China's Housing Industry Continues to Improve
China's housing industry bounced back strongly as housing prices dropped further in May, according to official statistics.
According to statistics released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Tuesday, the index of the real estate sector climbed 0.36 points over April to 102.20 points in May, registering the highest monthly growth so far this year.
However, the index was still 1.08 points lower than one year ago. NBS said that the housing industry has steadily improved.
Housing prices were growing at a decreasing rate over the first five months of the year, with the average price standing at 2,108 yuan by the end of May, up 2.6 percent over the same period last year.
Large amounts of low-cost apartments entering the market have helped drive housing prices down. New buildings rose to the to the highest level over the past eleven months in May. Between January and May, new apartments, office and commercial buildings increased by 34.1 percent, 40 percent and 36.9 percent respectively over the same period last year.
From January to May, actual investment in real estate development totaled 162.8 billion yuan, up 21 percent over the same period last year. Only 5.67 billion yuan came from foreign investors, down 28 percent.
Land development by the housing sector continued to slow down over the first five months of the year. Total land development area grew by only 8.5 percent to 18.61 million square meters, compared with a growth of 82.8 percent in the same period last year.
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