Chinese banks in January extended a total of 2.9 trillion yuan (US$461 billion) in new loans, up 396 per cent from the previous month, hitting a historic high. The record lending in January is partly driven by seasonal factors as banks tend to front-load their loans at the start of the year to maximize interest, E Yongjian, senior analyst at the finance research centre of the state-owned Bank of Communications, told Caixin. The larger-than-expected lending figure shows that demand for property purchases has not weakened, said Liu Dongliang, an analyst with China Merchants Bank.