China's fixed asset investment in the first seven months rose 24.9 percent year on year to 11.98 trillion yuan (1.77 trillion U.S. dollars), the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced Wednesday.

The growth rate was 0.6 percentage points lower than that for the first half.

State-owned and state-controlled investment rose by 20.1 percent to 4.95 trillion yuan.

Property market investment grew 37.2 percent to 2.38 trillion yuan in the first seven months.

Investment in central government projects rose 10.4 percent to 924.2 billion yuan, and investment in local government projects was up 26.3 percent to 11.06 trillion yuan in the first seven months year on year.

Foreign investment climbed 0.9 percent to 418.3 billion yuan in the first seven months year on year. Investment from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan was up 15.8 percent to 381.3 billion yuan. Domestic enterprise investment rose 26.6 percent to 11.14 trillion yuan.

Total investment in the primary sector (including farming, fishing and forestry) rose 18.9 percent from a year earlier.

The industrial sector saw investment up 22.1 percent, and investment in the tertiary sector, which covers commerce, finance and services, rose 27.4 percent.

Investment in railways was up by 21.5 percent to 290.5 billion yuan; in oil and natural gas by 7.9 percent to 128.7 billion yuan; in electricity and thermal power production and supply by 6.9 percent to 577.1 billion yuan.