China targets to build at least 5 million public homes in 2013

BEIJING (REUTERS) - China aims to start building at least 5 million units of public homes next year and has no plans to relax its purchase restrictions in the real estate market, its housing minister said on Monday.

Mr Jiang Weixin told reporters at a briefing that China could start building as many as 6 million units of public homes next year.

Speaking on the sidelines of China's Communist Party congress at which new leaders will be chosen, he said the ministry is working on better distributing public homes to redress complaints that subsidised accommodation is sometimes handed out to well-heeled Chinese owing to corruption.

China broke ground on 7.2 million units of public homes, also referred to as affordable housing, this year as at the end of September, putting it on track to meet its target this year of over 7.4 million housing starts.