1st LD-Writethru: China's property investment growth pace slows

China's property investment growth continued to slow in the first eight months, indicating caution from builders and challenges facing the industry.

Real estate investment rose 3.5 percent year on year to 6.11 trillion yuan (959.18 billion U.S. dollars) in the first eight months, with the growth rate 0.8 percentage points lower than that registered in the first seven months, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Sunday.

In the first eight months, investment in residential housing, about 67 percent of the total property investment, climbed 2.3 percent from the same period last year, 0.7 percentage points lower than the pace in the first seven months, the NBS said in a statement.

New housing construction stood at 951.82 million square meters in the period, plunging 16.8 percent from a year earlier.

Sales value of commercial housing in the period went up 15.3 percent year on year to 4.8 trillion yuan. The growth rate was 1.9 percentage points higher than that in the first seven months, indicating nascent signs of recovery in some cities.

China's property market took a downturn in 2014 due to weak demand and a surplus of unsold homes. The cooling has continued into 2015, with both sales prices falling and investment slowing.

With a string of supportive policies targeted at the property sector taking effect, China's metropolitan housing markets have seen strong rallies in recent months, while the recovery in smaller cities remained mild due to inventories and other factors. Endi