China's urban fixed-asset investment grew 16.5 percent year on year to 30.6 trillion yuan (5 trillion U.S. dollars) in the first eight months of 2014, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced on Saturday.

The growth pace retreated 0.5 percentage points from the rate seen during the Jan.-July period. The NBS attributed the slowdown to a continuing downturn in the real estate market, which has restrained investment in the sector as well as related industries.

In August, urban fixed-asset investment grew 1.23 percent from July.

The NBS said property investment slowed further in the Jan.-Aug. period, growing only 13.2 percent year on year, down 0.5 percentage points from the growth rate in Jan.-July.

In the first eight months, investment in the primary industry went up 26.3 percent, followed by a 18.2-percent rise in the tertiary industry and 13.7 percent in secondary.

During the period, investments in infrastructure (excluding the power industry) rose 23.5 percent to 5 trillion yuan, with those in railway transport up 20.6 percent, picking up by 1 percentage point from the pace seen in Jan.-July, according to the data.

Jan.-Aug. urban fixed-asset investment by domestic companies amounted to 29 trillion yuan, up 17.3 percent, while that of companies from China's Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan stood at 734.9 billion yuan, up 6.7 percent. Foreign investment stood at 694 billion yuan, down 0.8 percent, the data showed.

Fixed-asset investment in China's central regions witnessed the fastest growth rate of 18.4 percent during the period, followed by 18.1 percent in the western regions and 15.3 percent in the eastern regions, the data showed.

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