Housing prices in 70 large and medium Chinese cities rose an average of 5.5 percent in the first quarter compared to the same period in 2005, the National Development and Reform Commission said yesterday. Dalian, a coastal city in Liaoning Province, recorded a 14.9 percent increase, the highest of all cities.

China's real estate investment rose 20.2 percent to 279.3 billion yuan (US$35 billion) in the first quarter, 6.5 percentage points slower than over the same period last year, the National Bureau of Statistics said yesterday. High prices and an unhealthy investment structure have remained two key issues to be addressed in the real estate sector, Zheng Jingping, the spokesman for the National Bureau of Statistics said.

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