The real estate sector in Jiangsu Province, an economic powerhouse in east China, has managed to keep abreast with the regional economic growth, thanks to stimulus provided by the provincial government.

Over the previous few years, the sector lagged behind the overall provincial economy in terms of growth rate, according to a property development regulator with the local construction authorities.

In the first half of this year, investment in the sector increased by 61.99 percent year-on-year to 33.051 billion yuan (3. US$98 billion), accounting for 15.5 percent of the total fixed assets investment in Jiangsu, the official said.

Of the sector's capital investment during the period, input in residential housing development made up 24.102 billion yuan (US$2.9 billion), or 73 percent, up 56.4 percent year-on-year.

The area of housing sold in Jiangsu amounted to 7.4494 million square meters in the January-June period, as against the 6.4016 million square meters of housing completed.

Owing to the brisk sales, vacant housing space in the province dropped by 1.9152 million square meters year-on-year to 4.6546 million square meters in the first half of the year, including 2. 841 million square meters of vacant residential housing, down 1. 6418 million square meters from a year earlier.

(Xinhua News Agency July 31, 2003)