China property loans up in 2013

The Chinese property sector attracted 2.34 trillion yuan (383.61 billion U.S. dollars) in new lending in 2013, 998.7 billion more than in 2012, according to a central bank statement issued on Friday. Outstanding yuan-denominated lending from Chinese and foreign financial institutions to the property sector rose 19.1 percent year on year to 14.61 trillion yuan by the end of 2013, the People's Bank of China said. Outstanding yuan-denominated lending for individual home mortgages rose 21 percent to 9.8 trillion yuan. The figure for low-income housing construction went up 26.7 percent year on year to 726 billion yuan. China's outstanding yuan-denominated lending hit 71.9 trillion yuan at the end of 2013, up 14.1 percent year on year, but the growth rate was 0.9 percentage points lower than in the previous year. New yuan-denominated lending hit 8.89 trillion yuan in 2013, up 687.9 billion yuan from 2012, the central bank announced on Jan. 15.