BEIJING — China's investment in property development rose 3.7 percent year-on-year in the first two months of this year, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on March 15.

During the period, property investment stood at around 1.45 trillion yuan (about $227.42 billion), NBS data showed.

Investment in residential buildings went up 3.7 percent from a year earlier to near 1.08 trillion yuan in the Jan-Feb period.

During the same period, commercial housing sales dropped 9.6 percent year-on-year in terms of floor area to 157.03 million square meters.

In terms of value, commercial housing sales went down 19.3 percent to around 1.55 trillion yuan.

In this year's Government Work Report, China reiterated the principle of "housing is for living in, not for speculation," vowing to keep land prices, housing prices and market expectations stable and adopt city-specific measures to facilitate positive circulation and sound development in the real estate sector.

The country will move faster to develop the long-term rental market, promote the construction of government-subsidized housing, and support the commodity housing market in better meeting the reasonable needs of homebuyers, according to the report.