A car passes by a housing block in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, May 17, 2015. [Photo/IC]

BEIJING -- China's outstanding home loans for individual purchase continued to rise in 2015, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) said in a statement.

The figure accumulated to 13.1 trillion yuan ($2 trillion) by the end of 2015, up 23.9 percent year-on-year, according to the statement.

The outstanding real estate loans in 2015 contributed to 22.4 percent of the total outstanding loans across all sectors, adding 1.1 percentage points year-on-year.

To promote the housing market and combat a broader economic slowdown, China's central bank has cut benchmark interest rates five times last year.