Investment in China's property sector soared to 1.43 trillion yuan (US$189.9 billion) in the first eight months, 29 percent up from the same period last year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

Of the total, 1.02 trillion yuan went to commercial housing, an increase of 30.9 percent while 44.9 billion yuan went to economically affordable housing, an increase of 28.8 percent.

By the end of August, China had 119 million square meters of vacant commercial buildings, down two percent over the same period last year.

In the first eight months, developments on 162 million square meters of land were completed, an increase of 15.3 percent, according to the NBS.

China's real estate climate index rose to 104.48 points, up 0.48 points from last month and 1.17 points from a year ago.

The index, reflecting the nation's current property market situation and development trends, includes sub-indices such as investment, sources of capital, floor space of marketable yet unsold buildings, areas of land developed and the floor space of buildings under construction.

The market is considered to be heating up when the index exceeds 100.

China's housing price hikes accelerated last month despite a spate of government control measures.

Prices in 70 large and medium-sized cities were up 8.2 percent in August over the same month last year, or 0.7 percentage points higher than the July rate.

(China Daily / Xinhua News Agency September 20, 2007)