China's real estate sector is continuing to boom despite tighter
monetary policy, at least in terms of total fund inflows, the
latest government statistics show.
Also, more foreign capital is going into the property
market.
Just over 3,204 billion yuan (435.4 billion U.S. dollars) flowed
into China's property sector during the first 11 months of the
year, up 40.8 percent. This figure includes the value of new
contracts.
Overseas capital flows into real estate surged by 71.9 percent
over the same period last year to 53.9 billion yuan. Overseas
capital includes investment from Hong Kong and Macao.
The data was released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS)
Monday in its November national real estate climate index report,
which tracks real estate trends in China.
The real estate climate index rose slightly in November to
106.59, up 0.85 points from October and up 2.67 points from last
November.
Completed investment by property developers rose more than 30
percent to 2,163.2 billion yuan in the first 11 months. Of that
total, investment in residential buildings was 1,544 billion yuan,
up 33.7 percent.
Within the residential category, 69.3 billion yuan went into
affordable or subsidized housing in the first 11 months, up 31.7
percent. That figure was just 3 percent of total investment in
housing.
The government is still trying to boost programs to provide
affordable housing for low-income households. Last month, the
government urged local authorities to reserve at least 70 percent
of the land designated for residential construction for low-rent
units or smaller, cheaper homes.
Although investment and capital in real estate increased in
value terms in November, government efforts to deflate the property
bubble seemed to be taking effect. The floor space of marketable,
unsold buildings dropped 4.5 percent to 117.97 million square
meters, which could be the result of developers building more
affordable homes and fewer luxury properties.
China has raised the benchmark one-year lending rate five times
this year amid efforts to curb investment growth and slow the
economy.
(Xinhua News Agency December 18, 2007)
