Despite state policies to rein in the overheated real estate sector, investment in property development in Beijing grew 18.1 percent year-on-year in the first five months of this year.

According to the latest data provided by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics, the Chinese capital pumped 48.09 billion yuan (US$6.01 billion) in real estate development between January and May, or more than half of the 87.8 billion yuan (US$10.98 billion) in fixed-assets investment the city made for that period.

Of the money injected in property development, 25.1 billion yuan (US$3.14 billion) went to construction of residential housing, up 33 percent.

The total fixed-assets investment was 24 percent more than a year earlier, the bureau said.

The total input included 21.35 billion yuan (US$2.67 billion) in capital construction, up 91.4 percent year-on-year.

Such major infrastructure projects as the Beijing-Tianjin light rail project and those for the 2008 Olympics contributed significantly to the rapid growth, the bureau added.

(Xinhua News Agency June 27, 2006)