Shanghai plans to build about 18 million square meters of new apartments next year, with 45 percent set aside for budget and low-rent houses as well as homes for relocated residents, the city's housing bureau said yesterday.

A total of four million square meters in budget and low-rent apartments will be built in 2009 while another four million square meters are offered to citizens who relocate due to urban infrastructure projects, the bureau said in a statement.

Construction of around 22 million square meters of new houses will be completed next year and about 24 million square meters are set to receive approval for sales, the Shanghai Housing, Land and Resource Administration Bureau said.

The statement, which outlines the city's house-building plans for 2009, also noted that between 10 million and 12 million square meters of land plots for residential use will be launched next year.

At least 25 percent of the land supply next year would be allocated to build budget homes, up from a targeted ratio of 20 percent of land supply this year, which is expected to reach eight million to 10 million square meters, according to the bureau.

An extra 20,000 families in Shanghai are set to gain access to low-rent houses offered by the government next year, which will bring the total number of families in the program to 70,000.

The city government said earlier this year that some 300,000 budget apartments, with a total gross floor area of 20 million square meters, will be built in Shanghai over the coming five years.

(Shanghai Daily April 3, 2008)