China's urban fixed-asset investment up 20.4% in Jan-May

China's urban fixed asset investment rose 20.4 percent year-on-year to 13.12 trillion yuan (2.13 trillion U.S. dollars) in the first five months of 2013, the National Bureau of Statistics announced on Sunday.

The growth rate slightly decelerated by 0.2 percentage points compared to the first four months, according to data released by the NBS.

During the January-May period, investment in primary industry rose 31.1 percent to 273 billion yuan, while that in secondary and tertiary industry climbed 15.7 percent and 23.9 percent to 5.67 trillion yuan and 7.18 trillion yuan, respectively, the data showed.

Investment in the nation's central regions witnessed rapid growth of 23.9 percent, followed by 22.7 percent in the west and 19 percent in east China.

Investment in property development rose 20.6 percent to 2.68 trillion yuan in the January-May period, down 0.5 percentage point compared to the first four months, the data showed.

Property developers purchased 117.56 million square meters of land in the first five months, down 13.1 percent year on year; however, the total land costs rose 3.7 percent to 271.8 billion yuan, the data showed.

Meanwhile, investment by private companies increased 23.8 percent year on year to 8.38 trillion yuan in the first five months, the data showed. The figure accounted for 63.9 percent of the nation's total fixed-asset investment during the period.