Investment in China's real estate sector rose 24 percent from a year ago in the first 11 months, reaching 1,641.6 billion yuan (210.5 billion US dollars), the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported Friday.

Investment growth is marginally down on the 24.1 percent recorded in the first 10 months and 24.3 percent for the first nine months.

Investment in urban fixed assets in China rose to 7,931.2 billion yuan in the first 11 months of the year, up 26.6 percent on the same period last year, but 0.2 percentage points lower than the January-October period.

Investment in commercial housing rose 28.4 percent to 1,155 billion yuan, said the NBS in a monthly report on China's real estate market.

Investment in cheaper government-subsidized affordable housing was up 10.4 percent to 52.6 billion yuan.

The real estate climate index rose slightly in November to 103.92, 0.52 points up on October and 3.23 points up on last November's figure.

The real estate climate index is a composite index reflecting the current real estate market situation in China and development trends. The sub-indices include investment, source of capital, the floor space of marketable yet unsold buildings, areas of land developed and the floor space of buildings under construction.

By the end of November, 123.55 million square meters of commercial housing were vacant in China, up 7.9 percent on a year ago.

Vacant space in residential buildings was up 6.4 percent at 67.23 million square meters.

In the January to November period, 1.762 billion square meters of housing were built, up 18.4 percent on the same period last year. About 198.44 million square meters of land were developed, an increase of 38.1 percent, according to the NBS report.