File photo: Xinhua

BEIJING, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- China's real estate prices saw lower growth rates at the end of 2019 from a year earlier, official data showed.

The prices of newly-built commercial housing in 70 large and medium-sized cities across the country rose 6.8 percent year on year at the end of 2019, down 3.7 percentage points from the previous year, the People's Bank of China said in its latest quarterly monetary policy implementation report.

The prices of second-hand housing rose 3.7 percent year on year, down 4 percentage points from the previous year.

The floor area of sold commercial housing nationwide was basically the same as that of the previous year, with sales up 6.5 percent year on year. The growth rate in sales was down 5.7 percentage points from the end of the previous year.

The growth rate of real estate loans continued to decline steadily.

At the end of 2019, the balance of real estate loans from major financial institutions (including foreign-invested) nationwide was 44.41 trillion yuan (6.34 trillion U.S. dollars), up 14.8 percent year on year. The growth rate was down 5.2 percentage points from the end of the previous year.

The balance of real estate loans accounted for 29 percent of all loans. Among them, the balance of personal housing loans was 30.2 trillion yuan, up 16.7 percent year on year. The growth rate was down 1.1 percentage points from the end of the previous year.