BEIJING — China will soon achieve this year's housing renovation target for rundown urban areas, according to data from the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.

During the January-October period, the country started the renovation of 37,000 old urban residential communities, accounting for 94.6 percent of its annual target, the ministry said on its website.

More than 6.87 million households will benefit from the renovation projects that have been started, 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.