2010-04-17 23:25

BEIJING - The People's Bank of China, the central bank, said late Friday it would strictly implement the State Council's policies to rein in rapidly climbing property prices.

In a statement posted on its website, the central bank said it had urged all its branches and subsidiaries to enhance risk management in granting housing mortgages and to strictly carry out measures announced by the State Council on Thursday after an executive meeting.

The Cabinet announced a series of steps to make it more expensive for people to take out mortgages on investment properties, including raising mortgage rates and down payment requirements.

The Cabinet's move came one day after the statistics authorities said China's property prices in 70 major cities rose 11.7 percent in March year on year, compared with February's 10.7 percent reading.

Earlier Friday, the country's banking regulator urged banks to take market and regional disparities into consideration when deciding home loan interest rates.