BEIJING, March 18 -- Investment in property development in China fell 9 percent year on year to 1.1842 trillion yuan (about 167 billion U.S. dollars) in the first two months of 2024, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data showed Monday.

Investment in the sector maintained a falling trend as sales of newly built property also fell 20.5 percent year on year in terms of floor area to 113.69 million square meters in the same period.

In terms of value, sales of newly built property fell 29.3 percent year on year to 1.0566 trillion yuan, the data showed.

The decline in investment in the first two months had narrowed by 0.6 percentage points from the 9.6 percent drop in 2023, NBS spokesperson Liu Aihua told a press conference.

Based on the data for both property sales and home prices, China's property market is still in the process of adjustment and transformation, Liu said.

The NBS spokesperson noted that both the Central Economic Work Conference held last December and the annual "two sessions" held earlier this month had put forward clear requirements for refining real estate policies and promoting the stable and healthy development of the real estate market.

By adapting to the development trend of new urbanization and changes in the supply and demand in the real estate market, China will speed up the fostering of a new development model for real estate, according to Liu.

She added that the country will scale up the building and supply of government-subsidized housing, while also improving the basic systems for commodity housing to meet people's essential need for a home and their different demands for better housing.