dowfffhhBEIJING: China land supply for property rose 37 percent in 2011, the Ministry of Land and Resources said on Saturday, underscoring the government's efforts to cool down excessive home price rises.

The ministry did not give a figure for the number of hectares, but said that most of the land supply last year went to the 10 million units of affordable housing that Beijing had said it planned to build, it said in a statement on its website.

China has increased land supply for government-subsidized and small homes in the past two years to ease property prices for the benefit of first-time buyers.

The ministry said land supply for commercial residential housing totalled about 96,700 hectares last year, up only 4 percent from the previous year.

China has since 2009 taken a slew of measures to curb housing speculation, launching a maiden property tax, restricting purchases of multiple homes, lifting the down payment for home buyers, and raising interest rates.

Copyright Reuters, 2010

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