New home sales expand steadily

New home sales in China continued to rise at a single-digit pace in the first seven months of this year, according to figures released on Wednesday by the National Bureau of Statistics.

Between January and July, about 7.2 trillion yuan (US$1 trillion) worth of new homes, excluding government-subsidized affordable housing, were sold, an increase of 9.2 percent from same period a year ago. That compared with the 8.4 percent growth in the first half and the 8.9 percent gain in the first five months.

The area of new homes sold during the same period totaled 777 million square meters, a year-on-year dip of 0.4 percent. That compared with the 1 percent decrease in the first half and the 0.7 percent decline registered in the first five months, the bureau's data showed.

On the inventory side, newly built homes available for sale as of the end of July stood at 229 million square meters, down 14.7 percent from a year earlier. That compared with 232 million square meters recorded as of the end of June.

Investment in residential property development, which represented 73.4 percent of total real estate investment, rose 15.1 percent year-on-year to 5.35 trillion yuan between January and July.