China reports jump in real estate loans

China's real estate loans increased 8.4 percent year-on-year as of the end of November. Over 90 percent of home mortgage loans were first-time home buyer loans, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission said on Thursday.

The country insisted on implementing policies upholding the principle "houses are for living in, not for speculation", maintained the overall stability of real estate loans and further satisfied reasonable housing demand of homebuyers, said Zhang Zhongning, spokesperson of the CBIRC, at a news conference.

The banking sector continuously consolidated its capabilities to serve the real economy. In the first 11 months of 2021, new loans from Chinese banks reached 19.2 trillion yuan ($3.01 trillion), which were mainly given to areas including the manufacturing industry and infrastructure construction.

As of the end of November, the outstanding balance of loans to small businesses that have a total credit line of up to 10 million yuan per borrower was 18.7 trillion yuan, up 24.1 percent year-on-year, Zhang said.