According to the statistics of the financial Associated Press, up to now, more than 10 cities have reduced the down payment ratio of provident fund or commercial loan, mainly in the third and fourth tier cities.
On February 25, Jinzhong City, Shanxi Province issued a notice on adjusting the individual housing loan policy of housing provident fund (for Trial Implementation). The notice pointed out that the down payment ratio of the second set of housing will be reduced. If families need to apply for housing provident fund loans to buy the second set of improved housing, the down payment ratio will be reduced to no less than 20% of the total purchase price. The notice will be implemented from March 1, 2022.
It is worth mentioning that this is the fifth city nationwide to reduce the down payment ratio of provident fund loans. Previously, Beihai, Zigong, Nanning, Fuzhou and other cities have issued policies to reduce the down payment of provident fund and increase the loan amount.
Compared with reducing the down payment ratio of provident fund loans, what is more interesting is that at least five cities have reduced the down payment ratio of commercial loans since February.
Following the first shot to reduce the down payment of commercial loans in Heze, Shandong, banks in Chongqing, Ganzhou, Jiangxi and Zhumadian, Henan all reduced the down payment ratio of first home loans to 20%.
According to Zhongxin Jingwei reported on February 25, Nantong City, Jiangsu Province Industrial And Commercial Bank Of China Limited(601398) , Agricultural Bank Of China Limited(601288) , Bank Of China Limited(601988) , China Construction Bank Corporation(601939) , Bank Of Jiangsu Co.Ltd(600919) lowered the down payment ratio of individual housing loans in the city, and the down payment ratio of home buyers who buy houses for the first time and apply for housing loans for the first time decreased from the previous lowest 30% to the lowest 20%.
Qianhai securities research report pointed out that the cities that adjusted the down payment ratio of housing loans in this round were “non restricted” cities, which were jointly decided by the local housing and financial functional departments according to the principle of “implementing policies according to the city”.
In fact, the notice on issues related to adjusting the loan policy of individual account parties issued by the central bank in 2016 has clearly stipulated that in cities that do not implement the “purchase restriction” measures, the minimum down payment proportion of the first set of individual housing of resident families can be reduced, and it is allowed to float down by 5 percentage points on the basis of 25% of the minimum down payment proportion; For households with one house and corresponding house purchase loans outstanding, the minimum down payment ratio shall be adjusted to no less than 30%.
Industry insiders believe that the reduction of the down payment ratio has an obvious effect on stimulating market demand. The measures to reduce the down payment ratio in more than 10 cities may lead more cities to follow suit, especially the third and fourth tier cities with weak urban fundamentals and high market adjustment pressure.
“The reduction of the current down payment ratio is obviously a trend, which objectively helps to reduce the threshold of house purchase and release the demand for house purchase.” Yan Yuejin, research director of the think tank center of E-House Research Institute, pointed out that it should be noted that some operations such as low down payment and zero down payment still need to be corrected. All localities should actively lend in compliance to help the high-quality development of the house purchase market.
According to the data of Zhongyuan Real Estate Research Institute, since January 2022, more than 45 cities have issued policies to stabilize the property market.
“It is expected that in the future, policies will be issued successively from the central to local governments to stimulate the substantial improvement of the market demand side, and gradually form a joint force of policies, so as to form a stable and healthy upward space for the real estate industry, including improving the past excessive correction of non hot cities.” Qianhai securities research report pointed out.
“For the market, it still takes time for local support policies to take effect. It is expected that the short-term market adjustment trend will continue. In some cities with early adjustment and strong demand support, with the improvement of the credit environment and the implementation of relevant support policies, the market is expected to gradually bottom and recover, and some cities are still expected in the spring of March.” Chen Wenjing, deputy research director of the index division of China Index Research Institute, said.
