BEIJING, May 12 -- China Development Bank on Tuesday said its accumulative lending to housing renovation projects had topped 1 trillion yuan (164 billion U.S. dollars) as of May 8.

As a major financial service provider for such projects, the bank said it had supported the renovation of substandard housing across the whole country.

With the bank's support, more than 1.12 billion square meters of homes had been renovated, benefiting nearly 11.4 million households.

Since the start of 2015, the bank has extended its support for housing renovation work, providing 19.2 billion yuan in fresh loans, it said.

The government has pushed for substandard housing renovation work in recent years as the world's most populous nation continues to urbanize and the economy faces heavy downward pressure. First-quarter growth slowed to 7 percent, marking a lowest quarterly growth since 2009.