China saw a rise in outstanding property loans in 2012, the country's central bank announced Thursday, adding to signs that recovery of the country's property market is gathering momentum.
The outstanding property loans in yuan extended by major financial institutions in the country rose 12.8 percent year-on-year to 12.11 trillion yuan ($1.95 trillion) by the end of December, the People's Bank of China said in a report published on its website Thursday.
Outstanding loans for property development reached 3 trillion yuan by the end of December, up 10.7 percent from the previous year, the report showed.
Outstanding loans for home purchases rose 13.5 percent year-on-year to 8.1 trillion yuan by the end of December, 0.9 percentage points higher than at the end of the third quarter, it said.
"The steady growth of the property market and increase of sales in the last two months have pushed up demand for property loans. Relatively loose credit and continuous improvement of sales will encourage home buyers to make a purchase, adding to the pressure for a rise in home prices," E Yongjian, a researcher with the Bank of Communications in Shanghai, told the Global Times.
Among 70 major cities across China, 40 saw a rise in home prices year-on-year in December, compared with 18 in November, according to data released last week by the National Bureau of Statistics.
The central bank's report also showed that outstanding corporate loans in both yuan and foreign currencies rose by 14.5 percent year-on-year by the end of December, 1.3 percentage points down from the end of the third quarter.
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