Property market continues rebound in Guangdong

GUANGZHOU - Commercial housing market in South China's affluent province of Guangdong saw modest, sustained recovery last month, according to official data released on Monday.

Housing sales rose 5.4 percent year on year to 67.3 million square meters in the January-November period, the Guangdong provincial bureau of statistics said in a statement.

Meanwhile, sales revenue rose 7.7 percent year on year to 547.6 billion yuan ($87.8 billion).

Sales in terms of floor area climbed 2.1 percent in the first 10 months, compared to a decline of 1.4 percent in the first three quarters, it said.

Developers in Guangdong invested 474.5 billion yuan on property projects in the first 11 months, up 14 percent year on year. The growth pace hit a new high after investment stabilized and started to pick up in July, it said.

China's property market started to recover from a year-long funk in the middle of the year after two interest rate cuts increased expectations among potential home buyers that the central government would loosen housing market controls to spur economic growth.

Prior to that, purchase restrictions, high lending rates and a ban on mortgage loans for third homes helped to cool the once-hot housing market nationwide, as the government sought to make housing more affordable.