Potential homebuyers look at a property model in Huai'an, Jiangsu province.Photo:Xinhua

Investment in fixed assets in China in the first two months of the year recorded a 35.0 percent rise on a yearly basis, among which, investment in real estate saw the biggest rise with a jump of 38.3 percent year-on-year and accounted for over 30 percent of total fixed-assets investment, official statistics showed on Monday. 

From January to February, the investment in real estate development nationwide reached 1.3986 trillion yuan ($215.2 billion), up 38.3 percent from 2020 and 15.7 percent over the January-February period of 2019, with a two-year average growth of 7.6 percent. Of this, residential investment was 1.0387 trillion yuan, up 41.9 percent, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday.

The total area of commercial housing sold nationwide was 173.63 million square meters in January and February, up 104.9 percent year-on-year. The sales volume of commercial housing reached 1.9151 trillion yuan, up 133.4 percent from 2020.

Consumption connected to housing also increased. For example, consumption on building and decoration materials rose 52.8 percent from last year, totaling 22.1 billion yuan in the first two months, per NBS data.

Based on a simple arithmetic average of NBS housing prices released on Monday, the price index for new residential buildings in 70 cities in February rose 0.4 percent month-on-month and 4.1 percent year-on-year.

"These are signs that housing prices are heating up. From the recent market dynamics, for some cities with excessive housing price speculation, there are signs of increasing house purchase policies, which are conducive to the stability of housing prices. Follow-up efforts are necessary in land supply, housing supply and other aspects," Yan Yuejin, research director at the Shanghai-based E-house China R&D Institute, told the Global Times on Monday.

Over the first two months of 2021, the national investment in fixed assets, excluding rural households, reached 4.5236 trillion yuan, up 35.0 percent year-on-year and 3.5 percent over that in the first two months of 2019. 

Infrastructure investment rose 36.6 percent year-on-year, while that in manufacturing recorded a 37.3 percent rise. 

Global Times