Lending to the property sector accelerated in the fourth quarter last year to end 2012 on a stronger annual growth amid a recovery in the property market, central bank data showed yesterday.

Total new yuan lending to the property sector, including for land and real estate development as well as mortgages, totaled 1.35 trillion yuan (US$217 billion) last year, 89.7 billion yuan more than 2011, the People's Bank of China said in a statement yesterday.

Outstanding loans to the property sector amounted to 12.11 trillion yuan as of the end of last year, up 12.8 percent from 2011, the data showed. That compared with a year-on-year gain of 12.2 percent at the end of September.

The figure is in line with a rebound in home transactions and prices starting in the second quarter of 2012, mainly driven by lower prices and preferential lending rates for first-home buyers.

Between January and December, the value of new home purchases, excluding government-funded apartments, jumped 10.9 percent from 2011 to 5.34 trillion yuan across the country, the National Bureau of Statistics said last week.

Sam Xie, director of CBRE Research, said he expected the housing market transactions and prices to remain stable this year due to continued restrictive policies.

Lenders in China lent 8.2 trillion yuan in new yuan last year, up 9.8 percent from 2011 after China raised investment to bolster the economy, according to PBOC data.