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BEIJING: China's annual real estate investment growth edged up to 34.3% in the first four months from an increase of 34.1% in the first quarter, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday, May 11.
The agency did not provide data for April alone. Property investment grew 35.2% in the first two months from a year earlier and increased by 33.2% in 2010.
However, property sales slowed in April, as data showed that total floor space sold in the first four months grew 6.3% from a year earlier, down from an increase of 14.9% in the January-March period.
Property sales value also slowed significantly, with annual growth in the first four months at 13.3%, down from 27.3% in the first quarter, suggesting the government's tightening measures were starting to show results.
China has issued a slew of measures to curb property speculation and cool excessive home price rises, including a limit on the number of units each family can buy and a maiden launch of the property tax.
Some Chinese banks have raised mortgage rates in the wealthy eastern province of Zhejiang, an indication that tightening credit conditions are pushing them to rein in loans even beyond regulatory requirements, sources said on Tuesday.
That matches a trend shown in the latest data. Mortgage loans to Chinese individuals declined by 6.8% in the first four months from a year earlier to 275.3 billion yuan (RM126.51 billion), after a fall of 5.3% in the first three months. — Reuters
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