BEIJING (Reuters) - Real estate investment in China rose 9.3 percent in the first four months of 2017 from a year earlier, official data showed.
The pace of investment growth accelerated from 9.1 percent in the first quarter, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Monday.
New construction starts measured by floor area were up 11.1 percent in the first four months of the year, compared with a 11.6 percent rise in the first three months, the NBS data showed.
Property sales measured by floor area grew 15.7 percent in January-April from the same period a year earlier, down from 19.5 percent in the first three months of the year.
Real estate investment, which directly affects 40 other business sectors in China, is considered a crucial driver for the economy. But some analysts expect increasingly stringent cooling measures will eventually drag on investment and dampen construction activity.