Property lending accelerates in Q4: PBOC

China's property lending accelerated in the fourth quarter as the real estate market recovered, according to data released by the People's Bank of China on Thursday.

Outstanding property loans extended by major financial institutions in China went up 12.8 percent to 12.11 trillion yuan ($1.95 trillion) at the end of 2012, 0.6 percentage point higher than in the previous quarter.

Average housing prices in 70 cities increased 0.31 percent month-on-month in December, the fastest pace in nearly two years, according to figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Friday. Lending for land development rose 12.4 percent to 863 billion yuan last year, 5.1 percentage points higher than in the January-September period.

Outstanding loans for property development totaled 3 trillion yuan at the end of December, an increase of 10.7 percent from a year earlier, and 1.4 percentage points lower than the end of September.

Lending to individuals for home purchasing rose 13.5 percent to 8.1 trillion yuan as of the end of 2012, 0.9 percentage points higher than three months earlier.

Loans for affordable housing development projects grew 46.6 percent to 571.1 billion during the same period, 15.1 percentage points lower than at the end of the previous quarter.

Outstanding loans to companies totaled nearly 50 trillion yuan, up 14.5 percent from one year earlier, and 1.3 percentage points lower than three months earlier. Total outstanding loans rose 15 percent to 63 trillion yuan by the end of 2012.