Property blighted by underuse

National Bureau of Statistics figures show a 24% year-on-year rise of unused space in new buildings to 123 million square meters at the end of March. In the residential sector, 69.8 million square meters of housing is lying empty, representing about 700,000 unoccupied apartments. Total investment in the property sector reached US$35 billion in the first quarter, up 20%, while foreign investment in the sector dropped 4% to US$650 million. A real estate expert with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Yin Zhongli, has warned the real figure might be far higher because the space purchased by speculators but not yet sold on had not been factored in.