China's National Audit Office (NAO) said Friday that the number of misused and uninhabited low-rent housing projects accounted for just 3.49 percent of the total number of audited low-income housing projects in 16 of the country's largest cities.

The number of uninhabited public rental housing projects accounted for 1.65 percent of the total, according to a NAO official who requested anonymity.

By 2010, about 360,000 low-rent housing units and 29,700 public rental housing units were being "properly" used in the cities, the official said.

In a report submitted to the country's top legislature on Monday, 8,654 low-rent housing units were found to have been illegally used and 3,937 were found to be uninhabited. Another 491 public rental housing units are also uninhabited.

According to the official, the country's low-income housing projects mainly consist of low-rent housing, public rental housing and affordable housing projects.