Mortgage rates reduced along with LPR cuts

Mortgage rates were reduced along with the lowered benchmark lending rate of loan prime rates in many Chinese cities, Securities Daily reported on Sunday.

The mortgage rate for first-time home buyers dropped to 4.9 percent at the lowest in some banks, the report said.

Current mortgage rates for first-time home buyers and second-time home buyers have been reduced by 5 base points along with over five-year LPR to 5.15 percent and 5.65 percent, respectively, in 11 investigated banks in China's capital city Beijing.

In the country's financial center Shanghai, mortgage rate for second-home buyers is the same as in Beijing, but the mortgage rate for first-time home buyers is much lower, at 4.96 percent.

Mortgage rates for first-time home buyers in Guangzhou are between 5.5 and 5.6 percent, and the mortgage rate for second-home buyers is at 5.8 percent.

Mortgage rates for first-time home buyers in Shenzhen and Suzhou have been reduced to 4.9 and 4.95 percent, respectively.

In January, the mainstream first-home mortgage interest rate in 103 key monitored cities is 5.56 percent, and the second-home mortgage interest rate is 5.84 percent, both down 8 base points from the previous month, according to data from Beike Research Institute.

China announced cuts in the benchmark lending rate of loan prime rates on Jan 20, with one-year LPR at 3.7 percent and over five-year LPR at 4.6 percent, according to the Monetary Policy Department of the People's Bank of China.

The LPR cut will have a positive effect on the real estate market and help boost the prosperity of the property market, said Yan Yuejin, director of Shanghai-based E-house China Research and Development Institution.

From housing enterprises' perspectives, the cost of medium- and long-term loans will be further reduced, thus encouraging housing enterprises to be willing to lend, Yan said.

From home buyers' perspectives, the further reduction of mortgage interest rates will promote housing purchases, according to Yan.

The tone of a prudent and relatively loose monetary environment in 2022 has been basically established, said Xu Xiaole, chief analyst at Beike.

As the benchmark anchor of mortgage interest rates, the decrease in over five-year LPR represents the reduction of housing mortgage loan costs, which helps enhance the purchasing power of buyers and boost housing consumption as well as other areas of consumption, Xu said.