BEIJING, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Loans to the real estate sector rose rapidly in 2014, especially lending for affordable housing developments, the central bank said Friday.

Financial institutions had 5.63 trillion yuan (926 billion U.S. dollars)in outstanding loans to the real estate sector as of the end 2014, up 22.6 percent, the People's Bank of China said in a report.

Outstanding loans for housing development hit 4.28 trillion yuan, up 21.7 percent, while those for land development grew 25.7 percent to reach 1.35 trillion yuan.

Loans for affordable housing programs totaled 1.14 trillion yuan, an increase of 57.2 percent.

Loans made to individual house purchasers remained relatively flat at11.52 trillion yuan.