国内英语新闻:Guangdong property market rebounds

GUANGZHOU, June 17 (Xinhua) -- The real estate market in southern China's booming Guangdong province has seen a rebound this year as more people have rushed to snap up discounted property following a correction last year, new statistics have indicated.

Property developers in the region sold 22.5 million square meters of commercial buildings in the first five months, down 12.4 percent year on year. But the decline was 1.5 percentage points smaller than that of the January-April period, according to a statement issued Sunday by the Guangdong provincial bureau of statistics.

Meanwhile, the sale revenue fell at a smaller annual rate of 8 percent, compared with 14.5 percent in the first four months, to 182.4 billion yuan (28.7 billion U.S. dollars).

The property market has experienced a gloomy year after the early-2011 roll-out of a series of tough government curbs, including purchase restrictions, higher lending rates and a ban on mortgage loans for third homes.

Many potential buyers have rushed to snap up bargains in the past few months, triggering a modest rebound in both transaction volumes and prices.

On expectation that the rebound is likely to continue, real estate developers restarted land stocking.

Developers in Guangdong spent 23.8 billion yuan (3.7 billion U.S. dollars) on land purchases in the January-May period, up 0.5 percent year on year. In the first four months, there was a sharp annual decline of 11.4 percent in land investment.