BEIJING, April 17 (Xinhua) -- Despite government efforts to cool down the Chinese real estate market, investment in the sector increased markedly in the first quarter of this year, the National Development and Reform Commission announced on Tuesday.

   ; Between January and March, the real estate sector used 354.4 billion yuan (46 billion U.S. dollars) nationwide, a year-on-year growth of 26.9 percent. The growth rate was 6.7 percent higher than the previous year and 1.6 percent higher than the growth rate for fixed assets investment in urban areas.

    The three-month period saw 712.5 billion yuan (92.5 billion U.S. dollars) earmarked for real estate development, up 26.3 percent.

    The total included 13.1 billion yuan (1.7 billion U.S. dollars) in foreign capital, up 154 percent. Of the foreign capital, foreign direct investment accounted for 10.26 billion yuan, up 193 percent.

    NDRC said the total capital earmarked for real estate development included 163.4 billion yuan (21.2 billion U.S. dollars) in bank loans for project development, up 18.4 percent, and 74.5 billion yuan (9.7 billion U.S. dollars) in mortgage-based loans for individual homebuyers, up 73.2 percent.