China News Agency, Beijing, March 21 (Reporter Pang Wuji) China's loan market quotation rate (LPR) remained unchanged in March.
On the 21st, the latest LPR data released by the National Interbank Funding Center authorized by the People's Bank of China showed that the one-year LPR was 3.7%, and the 5-year LPR was 4.6%, the same as the previous month.
Wen Bin, chief researcher at China Minsheng Bank, said the one-year LPR and the five-year-plus LPR remained unchanged for the second consecutive month after falling in January this year.
Wen Bin believes that the flat quotation of LPR reflects that China's monetary policy adheres to a prudent and neutral policy and maintains its strategic focus.
The central bank maintains a reasonably sufficient market liquidity through a combination of "reverse repurchase" and "medium-term lending facility (MLF)".
From an external point of view, the Fed raised interest rates, raising the federal funds target rate by 25 basis points to a range of 0.25%-0.5%.
At present, the yield spread between China and the US 10-year Treasury bond has narrowed to more than 60 basis points, which may be one reason why the LPR has not cut interest rates this month.
Xu Xiaole, chief market analyst at Shell Research Institute, said that China's LPR level has been at a historical low in the past three years, and the marginal effect of lowering LPR on boosting the economy is weakened, and the sustainability is not high.
In the future, precise support for key areas is the goal of governance, and structural monetary tools that can reach specific areas may play a more important role.
In addition, uncertain factors such as international interest rate hike pressure and geopolitical conflicts require China to leave room for monetary policy.
Despite the flat LPR, mortgage rates in many places saw their biggest monthly drop in nearly three years.
The mainstream housing loan interest rate data in key cities released by the Shell Research Institute shows that in March, the mainstream first-home loan interest rate in 103 key cities in China was 5.34%, and the second-home loan interest rate was 5.60%, down 13 and 15 basis points from the previous month, respectively.
Mortgage interest rates in March recorded the largest monthly decline since 2019, and the mortgage environment has tended to ease.
According to the agency's statistics, the decline in mortgage interest rates in 103 cities in March increased by 4 and 6 basis points respectively from the previous month, and the current interest rate is close to the level in the third quarter of 2020.
Among the 103 cities, 82 cities saw a reduction in the mainstream interest rate for housing loans. Among them, the first home loan interest rate in Chengdu was cut by 69 basis points that month, the largest correction, and the second home loan interest rate was reduced by 34 basis points.
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