THE per capita housing space for urban Chinese was more than tripled in the past two decades, said an official in Beijing yesterday.

"Currently the per capita floor space for residents in cities and towns reached 28 square meters, growing at an average rate of one square meter a year since the early 1980s, when the figure was less than eight square meters,"said Qi Ji, vice minister of construction.

Commercial houses have become the major housing supply in cities, investment in which accounts for 85 percent of the total, according to Qi.

More than 40 million urban households nationwide improved their living condition by purchasing commercial houses or pre-owned houses, Qi said.

China has an urban population of about 400 million, who find it hard to buy a house due to skyrocketing house prices.

The average property price in China抯 70 large and medium-sized cities last December was up 10.5 percent from the same month of the previous year, according to the National Development and Reform Commission in January.

Premier Wen Jiabao has pledged in his government work report March 5 to allocate 6.8 billion yuan (US$951 million) in the 2008 budget to build low-rent houses for urban poor.

(Xinhua)