Chinese bankers held loans totaling 5.2 trillion yuan (about US$580 billion) to real estate developers and housing buyers by the end of June, up 22.5 percent year-on-year, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) said on Friday.

The central bank said the growth rate was two percentage points lower than the same period last year, representing a decline for seven consecutive months since last December.

Loans to real estate development stood at 1.9 trillion yuan by June, up 17.7 percent year on year. The growth rate was eight percentage points lower than the same period last year.

The country's lenders granted 3.3 trillion yuan to housing buyers buy June, representing an increase of 25.6 percent year on year. The growth rate was 1.8 percentage points higher than the same period last year.

Real estate developers and housing buyers received 398.84 billion yuan in loans between January and June, which was 170.66 billion yuan less than the same period last year, said the PBOC.

China's real estate investment grew fast in the first half, but the housing price decline in some cities has strengthened a wait-and-see attitude among housing buyers, which retarded housing sales.

The country's real estate developers sold out about 260 million square meters houses in the first six months, and the sales value totaled one trillion yuan, representing an decrease of 7.2 percent and 3.0 percent over the same period last year, respectively.

(Xinhua News Agency August 16, 2008)