(Yicai) Dec. 30 -- Real estate investment in Hainan province rose 3 percent in the January to November period from a year earlier, making it the fourth Chinese provincial-level region to record an uptick as the nation’s property market warms up.

Developers invested CNY107.8 billion (USD14.8 billion) in Hainan, China’s most southerly property market, in the 11 months ended Nov. 30, according to figures from the National Bureau of Statistics. The cities of Shanghai and Tianjin as well as Shaanxi province also posted gains.

Investment in property development in Shanghai has been rising since the start of this year and in Tianjin since June, while in Shaanxi it has been increasing since September after fluctuating between modest expansion and contraction from May.

Investment in building real estate in Hainan had been constrained due to province-wide home-buying restrictions imposed on non-resident buyers, Yan Yuejin, vice president of Shanghai-based E-house China Research and Development Institute, told Yicai. But with counties across the province lifting these curbs, the market is likely to recover ahead of other regions, Yan added.

The decline in property investment in most provincial-level regions is slowing. Of the 27 regions where investment fell in the first 11 months, 19 reported a narrower decrease compared with the January to October period, with Guizhou province down just 0.5 percent and Xinjiang down 3 percent, potentially ending the year with growth, the NBS data showed.

A rebound in investment in some provinces was to be expected after it fell to historically low levels in most places, Yan pointed out. Although it fell 10.4 percent from January to November from a year ago, the decline will likely narrow further next year, Yan added.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Martin Kadiev