The home-buying of residents in Beijing continues to rise, with 2.2 million square meters of housing sold during the first half of this year.
According to the Beijing Municipal Development Planning Commission, Beijingers spent 8.36 billion yuan (US$ 1 billion) to buy housing in the six-month period, 2.4 times that of the same period last year.
About 80 percent of the buyers are individuals instead of corporation groups. The commission said this is the result of the improvement in housing subsidies and bank services.
The commission said the government will continue to keep prices at the local real estate market prices at an appropriate level in the second half of this year, and renovation of dilapidated housing will be stepped up to ensure the completion of eight million square meters of housing space this year.