BEIJING - China's real estate investment increased 9.9 percent year-on-year in the first three quarters this year, slightly down from the 10.1 percent expansion recorded in the January-August period, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Friday.

NBS data showed investment in the real estate sector amounted to 8.87 trillion yuan ($1.28 trillion), with 70.8 percent of the total pumped into residential projects.

Residential real estate investment increased 14 percent in the first nine months, down 0.1 percentage points from the January-August period.

In breakdown, developers built about 7.67 billion square meters of housing in the first three quarters, up 3.9 percent year-on-year.

Commercial housing sales measured by floor area rose 2.9 percent year-on-year in the first three quarters, down 1.1 percentage points compared with the first eight months.

At the end of September, housing inventories stood at about 532 million square meters, down by 6.82 million square meters from a month earlier.

The government has continued its tough stance on property sector regulation this year, curbing home market-speculation and cleaning up the illegal financing channels of property developers.

The once-overheated sector has thus far remained largely stable amid efforts to help defuse financial risks.