China said Thursday it would boost credit available for unfinished housing projects to more than $500 billion as it unveiled another round of measures to shore up the sector and try to reignite the economy.

According to experts, the real-estate sector has long accounted for around a quarter of gross domestic product and experienced dazzling growth for two decades but a years-long housing slump has battered growth as authorities eye a target of around five percent for 2024.

At a briefing, housing minister Ni Hong offered fresh help, saying Beijing will "increase the credit scale of white-list projects to four trillion" yuan by the end of the year.

The "white list" scheme, announced earlier this year, pushes local authorities to recommend housing projects for financial support and work with banks to ensure their completion.

Ni said the urban real-estate financing coordination mechanism would strive to include all eligible real-estate projects in the white-list. 

He stressed that an additional one million worn-out homes would be renovated, noting that there are safety hazards and poor living environments in urban villages, as people are eager to renovate.

The move, which he revealed, would be conducive to absorbing the existing stock of commercial housing.

Meanwhile, China's leadership last month warned the economy was being plagued by "new problems" as officials unveiled a raft of stimulus in one of the biggest drives to boost growth for years.

Among the measures were a string of interest rate cuts, the loosening of restrictions on home-buying and moves to free up cash for banks to lend more.