BEIJING - China will focus on building more and better welfare apartments to curb the runaway housing prices, Premier Wen Jiabao said Monday.

"Speeding up the construction of welfare apartments is a key measure to curb housing prices. It will cut demand and help solve the problem of the real estate market," he said.

China will build 10 million welfare apartments respectively in 2011 and 2012.

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A total of 36 million welfare apartments will be built from 2011 to 2015, Wen said.

Most of the welfare apartments, except those renovated from bungalows, will be used for low-income renting, he said.

The central government will appropriate 103 billion yuan to local governments for welfare housing projects, he said, urging local governments to expand investment in welfare housing and extensively utilize social resources.

The government will give priority to the land supply of welfare housing, he added.

Wen also stressed that welfare apartments must be of high quality, safe and environment-friendly. "It is a great opportunity for China's real estate industry. Losing it would be a shame," he said.