Investment in real estate development hit RMB 729 billion in the first four months of 2009, up 4.9% year-on-year, including RMB 511.4 billion in commodity housing, an increase of 3.4% year-on-year, according to data released May 12 by China's National Bureau of Statistics. In the period, domestic developers purchased 72.7 million square meters of land, down 28.6% year-on-year, and finished developing RMB 70.8 million square meters, a 12.2% drop from the year-ago period.

In April, the average price of projects sold in 70 large and medium-sized cities dipped 1.1% on an annual basis but rose 0.4% month-on-month. Sales prices of new housing projects fell 1.7% year-on-year but inched up 0.3% month-on-month in April, while second-hand housing prices were unchanged from a year ago but showed growth of 0.8% month-on-month. Domestic developers borrowed RMB 1.4 trillion in the first four months, up 12.4% year-on-year; domestic loans to developers accounted for RMB 325.5 billion, up 12.4% year-on-year.