Evergrande Real Estate Group this month said that three major state-owned banks as well as a private lender have agreed to extend it credit lines worth 100 billion yuan ($16.1 billion). The firm’s borrowings totaled 151.8 billion yuan as of June 30, up 39% from the end of 2013.

In February, state-controlled China Orient Asset Management Corp. said it plans to buy a 50% stake in Shanghai Zendai Property Ltd. for 1.5 billion Hong Kong dollars ($193 million). The asset-management firm, which had extended loans to Zendai totaling 1.96 billion yuan, has since offered to buy the remaining shares it doesn’t already own.

State-backed China Communications Construction Group in December said it is buying a 24% stake in Hangzhou-based luxury property developer Greentown China Holdings Ltd. for HK$6 billion.

Economists and property market players are watching to see when major investors dive back into China’s property market, which has faced slumping sales and tighter credit for more than a year. But the biggest deals so far have involved state-backed companies, raising the possibility that Chinese officials are moving to buttress developers and avoid a major shakeout instead of signaling a market bottom.

“Would the government pull a Lehman Brothers and let someone go bankrupt and risk contagion, or would it assist a state-backed company in helping a large developer dodge that?” said Colin Bogar,Shanghai-based managing director of real-estate private-equity firm MGI Pacific.

“There are many layers of information that are not public, and sophisticated money is aware that there’s too much risk,” he added.

Evergrande said its new loan agreements were routine. “These are normal strategic cooperation agreements,” it said in a statement. “There is no need to over-analyze this.” Greentown declined to comment, while China Orient, Zendai and CCCG didn’t respond to requests for comment.

The property sector accounts for about one-quarter of China’s economic output when related industries like steel and appliances are added. Amid a glut of homes in many Chinese cities, some smaller developers have defaulted on loans, while many larger property developers have seen margins narrow and inventories rise.

Struggling property developers could hurt other areas, like banking and construction, if they were to default, according to analysts. They could also present unseen risks. Kaisa Group Holdings Ltd., a property developer in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen,recently disclosed it had 65 billion yuan in debt as of Dec. 31, more than double the 30 billion yuan debt load recorded as of June 30, 2014.

Deal-making in the China property sector has surged this year, with state-backed players accounting for most of it. Deals for equity stakes in property developers total $10.9 billion so far this year, according to data provider Dealogic, or roughly the same amount seen over the past four full years combined. Of the seven deals this year, four were done by state-backed companies, representing two-thirds of the deal value. (One notable exception is privately ownedSunac China Holdings Ltd.’s proposed deal for Kaisa.)

Some analysts say that state-backed firms may be merely optimistic. As state-backed companies with implied access to credit, they also have room to take risks that could pay off when the slump ends. “These are unique, individual companies, and the buyers are making opportunistic investments,” said Christopher Lee, an analyst from Standard & Poor’s.

Beijing-based CCCG, a state-owned firm that build ports, roads, bridges, tunnels and heavy machinery, said in December it is making a long-term strategic investment in Greentown to build a better real-estate industry chain. “CCCG will send outstanding managers to Greentown, and the move will create strategic value for both sides,” Chairman Liu Qitao said in a statement at that time.

Evergrande, a developer with a presence in more than 150 cities across China, said that three state-owned banks—Bank of China Ltd.,Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. and Postal Savings Bank of China Ltd.—agreed to extend it credit lines worth 70 billion yuan. Private lender China Minsheng Banking Corp. agreed to lend 30 billion yuan.

Evergrande’s net gearing levels, or debt as a proportion to equity, was 287% as of the end of June 2014, up from 165% in December 2013, according to calculations by brokerage firm CLSA.