BEIJING - China's top banking regulator on Friday announced beefed up measures to rein in the nation's runaway real estate sector.

Banks are only allowed to make bridging loans to developers that have commercial or residential properties in progress, and not just "a piece of land", Liu Mingkang, China Banking Regulatory Commission chairman, said at a forum in Beijing.

Housing prices rose at the fastest pace in almost two years in February, jumping 10.7 percent from a year earlier, which has fanned worries about the formation of asset bubbles and prompted the government to take measures to cool down the sizzling real estate market.