A group of more than 200 foreigners has visited the booming Pudong New District of Shanghai, looking into possibilities of buying houses in the booming eastern economic hub.

The house-shopping tour, organized by the Construction Bureau of Pudong New District, has drawn over 200 visitors from a dozen countries and regions such as the United States, Canada, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, and Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions, said a source with the district construction bureau on Thursday.

Participants inspected 21 super-quality real estate projects in Pudong New District, and many expressed their wish to buy housing in the area.

The Pudong New District has attracted over 9,000 foreign investment projects from over 80 countries and regions with a total investment of 40 billion US dollars during the past 13 years.

There are some 20 housing communities for foreigners in Pudong district and over 20,000 foreigners are now working and living in the region.

Jason Boonham of Australia, manager of the financial department of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, and a business manager of the Shanghai Office of China Life-CMG Life Assurance Co, was recently elected one of the top ten eminent young people in Pudong.

The real estate industry contributed nearly seven percent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Pudong New District in 2002. Housing with a total area of 3.4 million square meters were sold in the first half of this year, up 45 percent year-on-year.

Joseph Zimny, board director of Mortgage Services Ltd, an agency serving foreign house buyers, said that as Pudong's investment environment and living conditions have kept improving, more foreigners were expected to settle down in the fast- developing district.

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