A reporter from China Securities Journal recently learned through research on the property markets in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen that mortgage interest rates have loosened and lending has accelerated significantly.
A number of real estate agency practitioners said that they were busy with more customers.
Institutional data shows that in February, the mainstream mortgage interest rates in 87 of the 103 cities monitored across the country fell month-on-month.
Industry insiders said that mortgage interest rates are an important factor affecting the demand side of the property market, and the credit environment is expected to continue to improve in the future.
Loose interest rates
A reporter from China Securities Journal investigated several large state-owned banks in Shenzhen, Ping An Bank, China Merchants Bank and many other joint-stock banks and found that in recent months, mortgage interest rates in Shenzhen have indeed loosened.
"There are not many people applying for housing loans recently, the loan amount is relatively sufficient, and the loan speed is relatively fast." Mr. Lin, the personal loan manager of Bank of China Shenzhen Branch, said that the current mortgage interest rate implemented by the bank is in the latest LPR (loan market quotation). Interest rate) rose by 30BP and 60BP respectively, which translates to 4.9% for the first home loan and 5.2% for the second home.
Mr. Lin said that in May last year, the mortgage interest rates for the first and second homes in Shenzhen were raised by 45BP and 95BP respectively on the basis of LPR, and the corresponding annualized interest rates were 5.1% and 5.6% respectively.
Entering 2022, various banks have successively lowered the floating standard to 30BP and 60BP.
After January 20, as the 5-year LPR rate was cut, the mortgage interest rate fell.
On January 20, the 1-year LPR announced by the National Interbank Funding Center was 3.7%, down 10 basis points from the previous month; the LPR for more than 5 years was 4.6%, down 5 basis points from the previous month.
The reporter learned through investigation that after the Spring Festival, Shenzhen's mortgage interest rates were relatively stable, with little change from late January.
Mortgage interest rates in Shanghai and Beijing also loosened.
"Bank lending has been loosened. Now the first-time home loan interest rate for new houses is 4.95%, and it is 5.65% for those who own a house or have a record of housing loan." A real estate agent in Xuhui District, Shanghai told reporters.
The personal loan manager of a bank in China Everbright Bank told reporters that the benchmark interest rate for first home loans is now 5.15%, up from 5.2% before.
Now the loan approval is T+1 working day, and the loan can be released within 5 working days after the approval.
"It's a lot faster than it was a year ago."
In 103 cities across the country monitored by the Shell Research Institute, the mainstream first-home loan interest rate in January was 5.56%, and the second-home loan interest rate was 5.84%, both down 8 basis points from the previous month; 87 cities in February saw a reduction in mainstream home loan interest rates, and Huizhou , Zhongshan, Hohhot mainstream first home loan interest rates have been reduced by 30BP; Chongqing, Nanjing, and Shaoxing have been reduced by 25BP; Wuxi, Wenzhou, and Changzhou have been reduced by 20BP.
The reporter learned through research that bank lending is also accelerating.
A personal loan manager of a state-owned bank in Shenzhen said that at present, the preparation of materials for second-hand housing to the approval of lending can generally be completed within a month.
For some new properties, if the materials are fully prepared, it is expected that the loan will be released within a week.
The average loan period in January in 103 cities across the country monitored by the Shell Research Institute was 50 days, 7 days shorter than the previous month.
Transactions vary
"Recently, the mortgage interest rate has dropped, and now is the time to start." A real estate agency practitioner in Beijing told reporters.
A real estate agency practitioner in Beijing's Xicheng District said that most of the recent transactions were large-scale housing listings, and they were mainly biased towards school district housing.
A real estate agency practitioner in Beijing's Haidian District told reporters that on February 21, he had been watching it all day, and a suite was sold that day.
The above-mentioned real estate agency practitioner in Xuhui District, Shanghai said: "The number of house viewings was relatively small from July to October last year, but it increased in November and December." According to him, most of the recent transactions are 90 square meters to 100 square meters. of small apartments.
"There are five people in our group, and each of them takes three people to see the house on average every week. Last weekend, our group sold three second-hand houses. In the Xuhui South Station area, four new houses were sold last weekend."
However, the reporter found that the loosening of mortgage interest rates did not bring obvious positive stimulus to buyers in Shenzhen.
Ms. Ren, a real estate agency practitioner in Futian District, Shenzhen, said, "Due to the epidemic factor and the lack of new properties, there are not many people viewing houses on the spot. However, with the reduction of mortgage interest rates, there are more online consultation customers after the year. In recent months, the number of new projects in Shenzhen has been relatively small, and the transaction volume of second-hand houses is not very large, and many customers are still waiting.”
"If the first home loan is 1 million yuan, after the interest rate is lowered, the monthly repayment can be reduced by more than 100 yuan." Ms. Ren told reporters that compared with the benefits brought by the reduction of the mortgage interest rate, many people value the reduction of the mortgage interest rate to the market. Bring back confidence.
Credit conditions expected to improve
According to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, in January, the sales price of new commercial housing in first-tier cities turned from a month-on-month decrease of 0.1% to an increase of 0.6%.
Among them, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen rose by 1.0%, 0.6%, 0.5% and 0.5% respectively.
Second-hand residential sales prices in first-tier cities rose 0.1% month-on-month, the same increase as the previous month.
Among them, Beijing and Shanghai increased by 0.5% and 0.6% respectively, while Guangzhou and Shenzhen decreased by 0.2% and 0.5% respectively.
Data released by the National Bureau of Statistics also showed that in January, the sales prices of newly built commercial housing and second-hand housing in 70 large and medium-sized cities weakened from the previous month, and the year-on-year growth rate generally fell.
There were 39 and 55 cities where the sales prices of newly built commercial housing and second-hand housing dropped month-on-month, 11 and 8 less than the previous month.
Recently, Heze and other non-restricted cities and regions have loosened the down payment ratio.
Wang Xiaoqiang, head of the Zhuge Housing Data Research Center, told reporters that since October 2021, favorable credit policies have been frequent.
Heze took the lead in adjusting the down payment ratio, which to a certain extent helped boost market confidence.
Yihan Think Tank believes that the reduction of the down payment ratio is a positive signal, especially in terms of commercial loans, and it does not rule out the possibility that other cities will follow up.
Yang Kan, an analyst in the real estate industry of Ping An Securities, believes that the core of revitalizing real estate is still in the improvement of operating cash flow due to the recovery of the sales side, and the follow-up demand-side policies are expected to make further efforts.
Mortgage interest rates are an important factor affecting the demand side, and the credit environment is expected to continue to improve in the future.