(Yicai Global) Dec. 24 -- South China's Hainan province's reliance on realty-based fixed asset investment to drive its economic growth is waning as non-real estate investment took up about 58 percent of total fixed asset investment from January to last month to exceed 50 percent for the first time ever, Hainan Daily reported today.

Investment in Hainan property dropped 16.7 percent last month from a year earlier, while non-real estate investment rose over 78 percent, and manufacturing more than doubled, statistics presented at the Hainan provincial party committee's economic work conference yesterday show.

Real estate has long ruled the roost on the island dubbed 'China's Hawaii,' which has basked in a spectacular investment boom. Housing prices in Hainan skyrocketed overnight after China pledged to support the province in transforming itself into an international tourist destination in January 2010, and commercial house transactions hit CNY17.1 billion (USD2.4 billion) within five days, which is equal to the total for all of 2008.

Hainan has been taking steps over the past few years to stop history from repeating itself by strictly regulating the residential property market. The province continued to consolidate restrictive measures in general commercial housing purchases, loans and transfers last year, sped up building of home rental platforms, and provided nearly 19,000 government subsidized dwellings to talent in a series measures that proved effective.

Editor: Ben Armour