The vacant area of China's accumulated commercial buildings had surged 18.9 percent from last year to 122 million square meters by the end of April this year, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Friday.

The bureau said in a monthly report that the vacant commercial residential buildings amounted to 69.21 million square meters, up 15.9 percent from the same period a year earlier.

The nation's vacancy rate is currently at a highly dangerous level, according to some reports, while an increasing number of residents are complaining that they cannot afford to buy houses which are too expensive.

From January to April, the bureau said, China's real estate developers invested 413.1 billion yuan (US$51.6 billion) in the sector, up 21.3 percent. They completed 72.81 million square meters of land development, an increase of 57.5 percent.

Since the beginning of this year, housing prices in major Chinese cities have started to rise again.

Chinese citizens with low incomes have complained about the high prices and there is even a "non-buying" campaign in Shenzhen,in south China, where commercial housing prices have surpassed 10,000 yuan (US$1,250) per square meter.

On Wednesday, a meeting of the State Council, the highest-governing body of China, said tight tax, loan and land policies would be taken to adjust the real estate industry structure.

(Xinhua News Agency May 20, 2006)