China's Housing Industry Continues to GrowThe index of China's real estate sector climbed 0.25 points over June to 102.94 points in July, registering the highest monthly growth so far this year.Figures released today by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) show that the index was 1.29 points higher than one year ago. From January to July, funds actually used in real estate development totaled 250.42 billion yuan, up 28.6 percent over the same period last year, and an increase of 20.5 percentage points in terms of growth rate. China's real estate development enterprises have invested 201.46 billion yuan in the first seven months of this year, surging 24.1 percent on an annual basis, said NBS. The houses sold in the first seven months this year reached 50.148 million square meters, up 38 percent over the same period of last year. China's commercial houses were sold at an average of 2,059 yuan per square meter in the January-July period, up 0.4 percent on an annual basis. Land development also maintained steady growth in the first seven months, with total land development area growing by 23.1 percent to 31.97 million square meters, compared with the same period of last year. During the seven-month period, the country's unsold houses stood at 81.86 million square meters in floor space, up 16.4 percent over the same period last year. And completed houses totaled 51.23 million square meters, up 19.1 percent. |
| People's Daily Online --- http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/ |