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An affordable housing project in under construction in Jiujiang, East China's Jiangxi province, Oct 12, 2012. [Photo/Xinhua]

BEIJING - China has basically completed construction on 4.8 million affordable housing units in the first nine months, bringing the country one step closer to hitting its annual target of completing 5 million such units, the country's housing authorities said Friday.

Local governments across the country started construction on 7.2 million government-subsidized housing units from January to September, up from 6.5 million units in the first eight months of the year, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development (MOHURD) said in a statement.

Therefore, the country has achieved its goal of starting construction on more than 7 million units this year as part of its five-year plan to build 36 million such units by 2015.

China invested 960 billion yuan ($151.66 billion) in building affordable housing units for low-income groups in the first nine months, the ministry said.

The government has stepped up its efforts in the construction of affordable housing in recent years in an effort to cool the country's runaway property prices.