Growth in new home sales continues

New home sales in China continued to accelerate in the first 10 months of this year, the National Bureau of Statistics said in its regular monthly report released today.

Between January and October, about 10.89 trillion yuan (US$1.55 trillion) worth of new homes, excluding government-subsidized affordable housing, were sold around the country, an increase of 10.8 percent from same period a year ago. This compares with the 10.3 percent increase in the first three quarters.

By area, new homes sold during the same period climbed by 1.5 percent year on year to 1.17 billion square meters, improving from the 1.1 percent rise registered in the first nine months, the bureau's data showed.

"The country's new home sales market maintained its strength for another month as real estate developers, particularly large players, continued to launch various promotional activities to attract buyers," said Lu Wenxi, senior research manager of Shanghai Centaline Property Consultants Co.

On the inventory side, newly built homes available for sale as of the end of October stood at 223 million square meters, down 12.9 percent from a year earlier. That compared with 225 million square meters recorded as of the end of September.

Investment in residential property development rose 14.6 percent year on year to 8.07 trillion yuan in the first 10 months.