BEIJING — China achieved over half of its annual housing renovation target for rundown urban areas in the first seven months of this year, official data showed on Aug 27.

During the January-July period, the country started renovation of 22,200 old urban residential communities, accounting for 56.4 percent of its annual target, according to the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.

More than 4.42 million households will benefit from the renovation projects that have been started, accounting for 62.7 percent of the government's annual target, the ministry said.

The government plans to renovate 39,000 old urban residential communities in 2020, benefiting around 7 million households.

Shantytown transformation has been a priority for the government in recent years. China aims to renovate 15 million dilapidated homes from 2018 to 2020 to speed up its urbanization drive and improve people's livelihoods.