BEIJING — China's investment in property development grew 10.5 percent year-on-year in the first eight months of 2019, down from 10.6 percent registered in the first seven months, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Sept 16.

The total property investment during the Jan-Aug period totaled 8.46 trillion yuan (about $1.2 trillion), the NBS said.

The investment in residential buildings went up 14.9 percent year-on-year to 6.2 trillion yuan in the period, down from 15.1 percent in the first seven months.

Data on Sept 16 also showed commercial housing sales in terms of floor area totaled 1.02 billion square meters from January to August, down 0.6 percent from the same period last year, narrowing from the 1.3 percent decline in the first seven months.

In the first eight months, commercial housing sales in value gained 6.7 percent to 9.5 trillion yuan, up 0.5 percentage points from the first seven months.