Homebuyers will have
to make a down payment of 40 percent to buy a second apartment, and for
apartments for commercial use, the down payment will be raised to as
high as 50 percent, Wednesday's China Daily reported.
The minimum deposit
for an apartment of more than 90 square meters is currently 30 percent,
while for apartments less than 90 square meters it's 20 percent.
The central bank is
also expected to increase the interest rate of mortgage loans to 1.1
times the benchmark one-year lending rate this week, the report said.
The move is an
attempt to curb the rise in house prices and speculation in the property
market.
The current five-year
lending rate has reached 7.83 percent after the central bank raised the
interest rate for the fifth time this year on September 13.
This means the
interest rate for five-year mortgage loans could reach as high as 8.613
percent if the central bank makes a move this week.
"With the expansion
of mortgage loans, and as the central bank continuously raises interest
rates, mortgage loans are beginning to face a high risk of default,"
China Construction Bank (CCB), the lender with the highest mortgage
loans in China, was quoted assaying.
Total non-performing
mortgage loans in three major commercial banks - CCB, the Industrial and
Commercial Bank of China, and Bank of China - rose to 19.2 billion yuan
(2.55 billion U.S. dollars) at the end of 2006 from 18.4 billion yuan in
2005, according to CCB.
The central bank
will also require commercial banks to stop lending to property
developers who hoard land and house for speculation purposes, according
to the source.
Property prices in
70 major cities jumped 8.2 percent in August from a year earlier after
gaining 7.5 percent in July, according to figures from the National
Development and Reform Commission.
Housing prices in
Beijing rose 12.1 percent from a year earlier, while prices in Shenzhen
went up 20.8 percent.
