Investment in China’s real estate shows modest pick-up in Aug as sales continue to expand

Investment in China’s real estate sector witnessed modest pick up during the month of August as property sales continued to expand during the period.

China’s real estate investment rose 5.4 percent year on year in the first eight months of 2016, slightly higher than 5.3 percent registered during the January-July period, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Tuesday.

Further, for residential properties, investment rose 4.8 percent year on year, accounting for 66.9 percent of investment in the sector. Housing sales maintained steady growth. In terms of floor area, property sales jumped 25.5 percent in the first eight months,

By the end of August, 708.7 million square meters of property remained unsold in China, down by 5.12 million square meters from a month earlier. Real estate investment, which directly affects about 40 other business sectors in China, is considered to be a crucial driver for the economy, which saw its slowest growth last year in a quarter of a century, Reuters reported.

Meanwhile, concerns are also rising over a growingly stratified housing sector, as smaller cities still suffer from a large inventory of unsold homes. Following the diversification in the country’s property market, NBS spokesperson Sheng Laiyun at a press conference on Tuesday, explained that cities will adopt differentiated policies to guide market expectations.