Total investment in China’s real estate industry rose 8.5 percent in the first quarter of 2015, reaching 1.67 trillion yuan, the National Bureau of Statistics announced on April 15.

“Specifically, investment in residential buildings went up by 5.9 percent,” the National Bureau of Statistics spokesman Sheng Laiyun told a press conference.

According to Sheng, 182.54 million square meters of commercial floor space, including floor space in residential buildings, was sold, down by 9.2 percent. Floor space sold for residential buildings specifically saw a 9.8 percent drop. The sales of commercial buildings in the first quarter totaled 1.2 trillion yuan, down by 9.3 percent and for residential buildings the figure was down by 9.1 percent, he said.