China witnessed a three-year high monthly growth in the real estate sector in March, featuring surging sales prices and completed housing and land developments, according to a monthly report issued by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Wednesday.
The China real estate index in March rose 3.46 points to 107.34points, the fastest monthly increase in the last three years. Investment in the first quarter amounted to 128.5 billion yuan (US$15.54 billion), up 34.9 percent over the corresponding period of 2002.
The NBS attributed the growth to the rapid increase of newly completed housing, which hit 29.9 million square meters in the first quarter nationwide, up 45.8 percent year-on-year.
House sales soared 45.2 percent to 31.25 million square meters and the unsold housing area increased 8.5 percent, NBS figures show.
The NBS said owing to accelerating sales, the average price of housing rose 5.1 percent year-on-year in the first quarter.
The developed land area soared 66.6 percent and the purchased land area increased 38.8 percent year-on-year, NBS said.
(Xinhua News Agency April 24, 2003)
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