The growth of loans for housing purchases accelerated in the first quarter, according to the monetary policy report released by the People Bank of China here Thursday.(File Photo)

    BEIJING, May 10 (Xinhua) -- The growth of loans for housing purchases accelerated in the first quarter, according to the monetary policy report released by the People Bank of China here Thursday.

    By the end of March, loans for housing purchases reached 2.41 trillion yuan, an increase of 142.4 billion yuan over the beginning of this year and up 19.9 percent year on year, the report says, adding that the growth rate was 3.7 percentage points higher than that in the same period of 2006.

    Of the total, 2.4 trillion yuan was borrowed by individuals, an increase of 147.1 billion yuan over the year beginning and up 20.3percent year on year.

    Loans for real estate development hit 1.6 trillion yuan by the end of March, an increase of 159.7 billion yuan over the beginning of the year and up 27.9 percent over a year earlier.

    However, the March end growth was 1.83 percentage points lower than that at the end of February and 5.54 percentage points lower than that at the end of January, a trend of month-by-month decline in the growth rate since last August.

    The first quarter saw acceleration in investment for real estate development, with the nationwide investment for the purpose hitting 354.4 billion yuan, up 26.9 percent year on year.

    The growth rate was 6.7 percentage points higher than that in the year earlier period and also 1.6 percentage points higher than the nationwide fixed asset investment in urban areas in the corresponding period.

    The report also shows that by floor space, the sales of newly-built residential houses exceeded new completions in the first quarter, reducing vacancies by 1.2 percent to 69 million square meters by the end of this March. (one U.S. dollar equals to 7.70 yuan)