BEIJING — The People's Bank of China (PBOC), the country's central bank, will maintain the continuity, consistency and stability of real estate financial policy, a PBOC official said at a press conference on Jan 18.

The central bank will implement the prudential management of real estate finance, ramp up financial support for rental housing, and adopt city-specific policies to boost the cycle and healthy development of the sector, said Zou Lan, head of the PBOC's financial market department.

Over the past few years, Chinese authorities have underscored the principle that "housing is for living in, not for speculation" with a slew of measures to cool once red-hot home prices and better cater to the reasonable demand of home buyers.

Real estate sales, land purchases and financing, among other areas, have gradually returned to normal, and market expectations have steadily improved, Zou said.

At the end of 2021, outstanding real estate loans nationwide stood at 52.2 trillion yuan (about $8.22 trillion), up 7.9 percent year-on-year.

New real estate loans hit 773.4 billion yuan in the fourth quarter last year, 202 billion yuan more than the figure registered in the same period of 2020, according to Zou.