BEIJING, Nov. 29 -- China initiated renovations of approximately 53,000 old urban residential communities in the first 10 months of 2024, data from the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development showed on Friday.

The country plans to begin renovating a total of 54,000 residential communities this year.

By the end of October, eight provincial-level regions, including Jiangsu, Shanghai and Tianjin, had begun construction on all of their planned renovation projects, the ministry said.

As part of its urban renewal initiatives, China has begun renovating 258,800 old urban residential communities since 2019, benefiting 44.34 million households and about 110 million residents, Qin Haixiang, vice minister of housing and urban-rural development, told media in August.

By the end of 2023, the per capita housing floor area in China's urban areas exceeded 40 square meters.