The People's Bank of China (PBOC) said Friday that total outstanding loans from major financial institutions to the country's property market, as of the end of June, climbed 40.2 percent from one year earlier.

However, the figure is 4.1 percentage points lower than that at the end of March, the PBOC, or the central bank, said in a statement on its website.

Further, new yuan loans extended to the property market in the first half of 2010 topped 1.38 trillion yuan (203.5 billion U.S. dollars), according to the statement.

New lending to property developers stood at 162.5 billion yuan during the first six months of 2010.

Total outstanding loans to property developers rose 26.1 percent year on year by the end of June, down 5 percentage points compared with figures notched at the end of March and down 4.5 percentage points from the end of 2009.

The statement also said total outstanding loans provided for home purchases grew 49.6 percent from one year ago as of the end of June, up 6.5 percentage points from the end of 2009, but down 3.8 percentage points from the end of March this year.

New loans for home purchases in the first half of 2010 totaled 932.3 billion yuan.

The government introduced a series of tightening measures in April to rein in soaring housing prices and curb speculation, including tightening scrutiny of developers' financing, suspension of loans for third-home purchases and requiring higher down-payments for second-home purchases.

Housing prices in major Chinese cities rose 11.4 percent year on year in June, lower than the 12.4 percent in May and 12.8 percent in April.