China's real estate market is still plagued by excessive investment, which has prompted housing prices to rocket in some parts of the country, the People's Bank of China, the country's central bank, said Thursday.

In a report on monetary policy implementation in the first quarter of the year, the central bank suggested related government departments follow closely the changes in the property market and coordinate monetary, land, taxation and supervision policies to promote the healthy development of the real estate market.

The report acknowledged that nationwide, a host of macro-regulation policies including a mid-March decision to raise the interest rate of housing loans, had been felt in the market.

The outstanding amount of commercial real estate loans stood at 2.5 trillion yuan (US$301.9 billion) by the end of March, up 25.1 percent on a yearly basis, and the growth rate plummeted by 17.1 percent from a year ago.

The total investment in the property market reached 232.4 billion yuan (US$28.1 billion) in the first quarter of the year, representing an annual rise of 26.7 percent. The growth rate also fell 14.4 percent from the same period last year, the report said.

(Xinhua News Agency May 27, 2005)