BEIJING-- China started building 7.218 million units of low-income housing in the first seven months of this year, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development said Friday.

Construction of such houses accelerated significantly in July, the ministry said in a statement on its website. The statistics did not include the number in Tibet Autonomous Region, it added.

The government vowed to start construction of 10 million units of low-income housing this year, part of the five-year plan to build 36 million units by 2015.

The government hopes such affordable houses can stabilize the country's runaway property prices.