An official reading of China's real estate sector rose for a seventh consecutive month in October to set yet another record, reflecting the country's continued investment in property.

The index released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) yesterday was 105.74 points in October, up 2.34 points from a year earlier.

Housing prices in 70 cities surged 9.5 percent in October, with major cities such as Beijing and Shenzhen showing double-digit growth.

Soaring prices apparently deterred many prospective buyers, since the vacancy index rose 7.42 percent year-on-year to 110.71 points, with 117.7 million square meters of vacant housing at the end of October.

Investment in real estate rose 31.4 percent year-on-year to 1.92 trillion yuan (US$259 billion) in the first ten months of 2007, with residential property investment accounting for 1.37 trillion yuan, or more than 70 percent of the total.

Property investment growth outstripped that of general investment in construction, factories and other urban fixed assets, which rose 26.9 percent year-on-year to 8.9 trillion yuan in the first ten months of 2007, said the NBS last Friday.