Banks in China extended 1.26 trillion yuan ($200 billion) of property loans in 2011, a decrease of 770.4 billion yuan ($121.7 billion) from a year earlier, said the People's Bank of China, the central bank.

"Property loan growth weakened last year due to restrictive policies in the real estate industry," said the central bank in a report.

China introduced its toughest-ever policies against property speculation last year to tame inflated home prices. According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, 52 out of the 70 monitored cities witnessed month-on-month drops in new commercial house prices in December 2011.