Data of 17 listed banks showed their total outstanding loans for the real estate sector in the period reached 426 trillion Vietnamese dong (17.7 billion U.S. dollars), up 36.2 percent compared to the end of last year, local newspaper Vietnam News reported.

The proportion of the banks’ loans in this sector also increased, showing that banks were still continuing to inject capital into the real estate sector even though the real estate market had not improved much, the newspaper said.

According to the data, 14 out of the 17 banks recorded an increase in outstanding loans for real estate compared to the beginning of the year.

The State Bank of Vietnam has repeatedly affirmed that it would not tighten real estate lending. In the current context of slow credit growth, banks are increasingly focusing on easing access to capital for firms, including those in real estate, the newspaper reported.