BEIJING, April 17 (Xinhua) -- China's investment in property development expanded 10.4 percent year on year in the first quarter of this year, official data showed Tuesday.

Total investment in the real estate sector stood at 2.13 trillion yuan (339.2 billion U.S. dollars), according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Residential real estate investment reached 1.47 trillion yuan, up 13.3 percent year on year and one percentage point higher than that of the first two months.

Property development investment grew fastest in central China while the northeastern region saw the slowest growth.

Real estate developers were building about 6.47 billion square meters of housing in the first three months, up 1.5 percent year on year.

Commercial housing sales measured by floor area rose 3.6 percent year on year, down 0.5 percentage points compared with that in the first two months.

At the end of March, about 573.29 million square meters of housing was unsold in China.

The Chinese government reiterated in its work report in March that houses are for living in, not for speculation.