China trust funds favour real estate

China trust funds favour real estate

China’s trust firms invested 207.8 billion yuan (US$32.4bil) of funds in the real- estate sector in the first half, with two thirds of that in the second quarter, the official China Securities Journal reported yesterday.

That came despite repeated regulatory restrictions to channel funds into the red-hot sector amid Beijing’s increasing efforts to cool rapid home price rises.

Citing a report issued by the official China Trust Association, the newspaper also said that trust firms cumulatively had invested 16.9% of their total assets of 3.74 trillion yuan in the property industry, second only to 28.3% invested in the infrastructure sector.

Investments in stocks, mutual funds and bonds only accounted for 10%, it said. Meanwhile, Shanghai’s average new home price rose 3.38% to 22,677 yuan per sq m in the week ended July 24 from the previous week, property consultant Shanghai UWin Real Estate Information Services Co said yesterday.

The city’s new home sales increased 20.6% to 172,500 sq m, the real estate data company said in an e-mailed statement.