Property Investment Rebounds Despite Sales Declines in South China

GUANGZHOU, Mar 26 -- The real estate investment in south China's Guangdong Province surged in the first two months of the year despite lackluster sales, data showed Sunday.

The investment in commercial property soared 40 percent year on year to 54.7 billion yuan (8.7 billion U.S. dollars) in January and February, the Guangdong provincial statistics bureau said in a statement. The rate was 14.8 percentage points higher than a year ago.

The number of commercial property projects under construction amounted to 3,111, 235 more than a year ago, it said.

The real estate market was still under pressure as the Chinese government showed no willingness to loose the property curbs, including purchase restrictions, higher lending rates and a ban of mortgage loans for third homes.

During the two months, commercial property sales in Guangdong slumped 22.6 percent and 28.5 percent year on year in terms of floor area and sales revenues, respectively.

Meanwhile, the commercial property projects yet to be sold out have a total floor area of 31.6 million square meters, a sharp increase of 49.5 percent from a year ago.