Individual loans account for half of all new loans in May

Chinese 100 yuan banknotes are seen in a counting machine while a clerk counts them at a branch of a commercial bank in Beijing, March 30, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

China's new yuan-denominated lending stood at 985.5 billion yuan ($149 billion) last month, 84.7 billion yuan more than May last year, official data showed Wednesday.

The figure was significantly up from 555.6 billion yuan in April, but was lower than a monthly average of 1.5 trillion yuan in the first quarter, the People's Bank of China said in a statement.

Individual mid- and long-term loans, which mainly include home mortgage lending, increased 528.1 billion yuan, accounting for nearly half of new yuan loans.

"Due to restriction policies, growth in first-tier property markets slowed significantly, however, some second-tier cities still saw a hot market, which drove up individual mid- and long-term loans," the financial research center under the Bank of Communications said in a report.

M2, a broad measure of money supply that covers cas in circulation and all deposits, rose 11.8 percent year on year to 146.17 trillion yuan, down 1 percentage point from a month ago.

The narrow measure of money supply (M1), which covers cash in circulation plus demand deposits, rose 23.7 percent year on year to 42.43 trillion yuan, the statement said.

Total social financing (TSF), a measurement of funds that non-financial firms and households get from the financial system, was 659.9 billion yuan in May, down by about 580 billion yuan from the same period last year.

The PBOC is aiming for annual M2 growth of around 13 percent this year and growth in total social financing of around 13 percent.

Xinhua contributed to this story.