Fixed-assets investment in economically booming Guangdong Province in south China cooled a little in the first eight months of the year, as the government's macro economic control efforts began to pay off.

According to the provincial statistical bureau, Guangdong invested 434.6 billion yuan (55 billion U.S. dollars) in fixed assets between January and August, a year-on-year growth of 16.3 percent.

The growth rate was 1.5 percentage points lower than the year-earlier level, or 4.2 percentage points lower than the Jan.-Jul. level, the bureau said.

The slowdown was partly due to the province's efforts to restrict investment projects with high energy consumption and high pollution, the bureau added.

The real estate sector, one of the areas that macro control efforts are focusing on, reported stable performance.

From January to August, 102.2 billion yuan (12.9 billion U.S. dollars) was pumped into the sector, up 19.9 percent on the same period last year.

Over the eight months, 28.18 million square meters of condos were sold in the province, up 7.8 percent year-on-year. Sales income was 141.9 billion yuan (18 billion U.S. dollars), up 22.6 percent, according to the local statistical bureau.

Editor: Donald