According to figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) yesterday, the national real estate index saw a steady growth during the first six months of the year.

The index in June rose 0.28 points above the May figure to 104.65 points, although still 1.36 points lower than the corresponding period last year.

The NBS said the index of land development in June hit 118.57 points, 1.63 points more than the previous month and 5.9 points up compared with last year.

The area of total land development in the first six months of the year was 50.9 million square metres, 52.7 per cent more than the same period last year; a growth rate of 25 percentage points.

During the January-June period, the area of newly completed housing totalled 58.26 million square metres, an increase of 20.4 per cent year-on-year, and a growth rate of 2.5 percentage points, the NBS figures showed.

The NBS attributed the steady growth to the increase in housing investment, land development and areas of completed housing.

But it also said a larger stockpile of unsold buildings prevented the real estate index rising in the first half year.

(Xinhua News Agency July 24, 2002)