BEIJING, June 17 (Xinhua) -- China's fixed-asset investment sustained stable growth momentum in the first five months of this year, boosted by government policies to increase effective investment, official data showed Mondayfinalfight1.

Fixed-asset investment rose 4 percent year on year from January to May this year, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed.

The investment topped 18.8 trillion yuan (about 2.64 trillion U.S. dollars) during the period, the NBS said in a statement.

Investment in infrastructure construction rose 5.7 percent from a year ago, and manufacturing investment increased 9.6 percent during the period.

Investment in high-tech industries posted robust growth in the first five months of this year, rising by 11.5 percent from the previous year. In particular, investment in high-tech manufacturing and services expanded by 10.4 percent and 14.3 percent, respectively.

Thanks to the government's large-scale equipment renewal policies, the investment growth in equipment purchase accelerated, contributing 52.8 percent to the total investment growth, NBS spokesperson Liu Aihua told a press conference.

Investment in property development, however, fell 10.1 percent year on year during the January-May period, according to the NBS.

The data indicated that the country's real estate market was still in a state of adjustment, said Liu Aihua, noting that it will take some time for the effects of the government's property policy package to appear.

She added that China will work to speed up the fostering of a new development model for real estate and promote the high-quality development of this sector.

The implementation of new policies and measures to prop up the property market will gradually promote the steady and healthy development of the real estate market in the next stage, Liu said.

Excluding the property development investment, the country's fixed-asset investment climbed 8.6 percent during the first five months.■