Property loans accelerate in China

BEIJING - China saw outstanding real estate loans accelerate as of the end of March from three months earlier while industrial lending slowed, official data showed Wednesday.

By the end of last month, financial institutions in China had lent 12.98 trillion yuan ($2.08 trillion) to the property sector, up 16.4 percent year-on-year, according to statistics from the People's Bank of China, the country's central bank.

The growth was 3.6 percentage points faster than that recorded at the end of last year, the PBOC said.

Of the total, outstanding loans for property development quickened for the 10th consecutive month to reach 1.04 trillion yuan as of the end of March, with a year-on-year increase of 21.4 percent.

Meanwhile, financial institutions extended 6.46 trillion yuan of medium- and long-term loans to the industrial sector as of the end of March, up 3.2 percent year-on-year.

The increase was 0.6 percentage point less than three months earlier, dragged down by slower loans to the heavy industry, the PBOC said.

Industrial output grew 9.5 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2013, down from 11.6 percent recorded last year, official data showed.

Investment in property development gained 20.2 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, faster than the 16.2 percent growth in 2012.

Altogether, outstanding loans by financial institutions in the country totaled 65.76 trillion yuan as of March end, up 14.9 percent year-on-year, but the growth was 0.8 percentage points slower from a year earlier, according to the PBOC.

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