China spends big in housing renovation

BEIJING -- The Chinese government has allocated 821.1 billion yuan ($124.4 billion) to cover the renovation of substandard housing in the first seven months of the year, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development said Wednesday.

Work began on the building of 4.67 million homes in former shanty towns during the January-July period, accounting for 78 percent of this year's target of six million homes, according to a press release by the ministry.

The government has been pushing people-oriented urbanization and improving living conditions for low-income families.

Last year, China started to renovate 6.01 million substandard dwellings, exceeding the target by 4 percent. It aims to build 18 million homes for shanty town residents between 2015 and 2017.

The government spent 1.54 trillion yuan in 2015 on affordable housing programs in 2015, which provides cheaper homes to low-income families that have been priced out of the property market.