Recently, the real estate agents have taken action again, hovering around the communities, and the real estate market in Shanghai has gradually resumed its activity. Behind this, it is inseparable from the catalysis of the improvement of the housing loan environment.
The first financial reporter recently learned from the housing loan managers of many large state-owned banks and joint-stock banks that since this year, the Shanghai housing loan market has been relaxed, the lending of second-hand housing loans has been accelerated, and the approval and lending time of some banks has even been shortened to less than 10 days. The intuitive feeling of most people is that compared with the second half of last year, the speed of mortgage issuance is indeed faster.
At the same time, with the reduction of LPR (quoted interest rate in the loan market) in January, the housing loan interest rate in Shanghai has also been adjusted. At present, the first financial reporter learned that the mortgage interest rates of the first and second homes of many banks in Shanghai decreased from 5% and 5.7% to 4.95% and 5.65% respectively.
In fact, not only the Shanghai housing loan market, recently, the housing loan policies of many cities have been loosened. Specific measures include reducing the proportion of down payment, increasing the amount of provident fund loans, issuing house purchase subsidies, etc. In the view of insiders, due to the implementation of urban policies, all localities flexibly adjust policies according to the operation of the real estate market, and some unreasonable or untimely policies are expected to be optimized. However, the real estate regulation policy still adheres to continuity and stability, “stability” is still the main tone.
approval and loan acceleration
Compared with the beginning of the year, the issuance of second-hand housing loans in Shanghai further accelerated. At that time, the reporter learned during the visit that the approval cycle of many banks was about two weeks, and the lending cycle was one month or one and a half months. At present, both the approval speed and the lending speed are accelerating.
“If the buyer’s credit investigation, income and other materials meet the requirements, the current examination and approval is basically about a week, and then the home can lend money every two or three days.” Postal Savings Bank Of China Co.Ltd(601658) a housing loan manager of a sub branch told reporters that at the beginning of this year, the approval time of the bank was about two weeks, and the loan was about one month to one and a half months.
At the same time, in large state-owned banks, Bank Of China Limited(601988) , Bank Of Communications Co.Ltd(601328) , China Construction Bank Corporation(601939) , the approval and lending cycle has also been shortened Bank Of China Limited(601988) a housing loan manager of a sub branch told reporters that at present, the housing loan amount of the bank is relatively sufficient. If it is a second-hand house, the approval is about 1 week, and then after the double certificate (real estate certificate and mortgage certificate) is completed, the loan only takes 2 ~ 3 days; If it is a new house, considering that the mortgage certificate is handled faster, the whole lending cycle will be faster.
“Now the lending rate of second-hand houses is similar to that of new houses. In the past, second-hand houses were relatively slow, but now the lending rate has also accelerated.” China Construction Bank Corporation(601939) a housing loan manager of a sub branch told reporters that at present, the approval time of the bank is about 3 weeks, and the lending time is 2 ~ 3 weeks.
In contrast, Bank Of Communications Co.Ltd(601328) has a relatively long lending cycle. According to the housing loan manager of Bank Of Communications Co.Ltd(601328) a sub branch, the approval time of the bank is about one and a half months. After receiving the double certificates, the lending time is about one month, and the approval + lending is about two to three months.
In the joint-stock banks, the reporter learned that the mortgage loan issuance of several joint-stock banks has also been accelerated. For example, China Merchants Bank Co.Ltd(600036) a housing loan manager of a sub branch said that the current approval cycle of the bank is one to two weeks, and the loan can be made every other day after the completion of the account, which is significantly faster than that of two weeks at the beginning of the year and one month China Everbright Bank Company Limited Co.Ltd(601818) a housing loan manager of a sub branch also said that the approval time of the bank is about one month. If the relevant materials are complete, the loan is about two to three weeks.
However, it is worth mentioning that during the visit, several mortgage managers mentioned the problem of real estate agents. For example, some banks tend to lend through cooperative real estate agents and do less “hand-in-hand” business. The so-called “hand in hand” means that buyers and sellers do not sign contracts online through intermediary transactions. “This is mainly due to the risk. There may be false mortgage loans.” A mortgage manager told reporters.
But on the whole, the consensus of many mortgage managers and real estate agents is that the overall speed of mortgage issuance is faster than before. On the one hand, the relaxation of the bank mortgage loan market is related to the warm wind on the policy side; On the other hand, it is also affected by the rhythm of bank housing loan issuance. Generally speaking, the amount of bank mortgage loan is relatively loose in the first quarter.
mortgage interest rate reduced simultaneously
In addition to the shortening of the mortgage issuance cycle, the first financial reporter learned during the visit that the mortgage interest rates of many banks in Shanghai have also been adjusted with the latest LPR change, which is the first adjustment since July 2021.
On July 24, 2021, some banks in Shanghai raised the mortgage interest rate. The mortgage interest rate of the first house rose from 4.65% to 5%, that is, LPR + 35bp at that time, and the interest rate of the second house rose from 5.25% to 5.7%, that is, LPR + 105bp at that time.
On January 20 this year, the first LPR quotation for 2022 was released: the one-year LPR was 3.7%, down 10 basis points from the previous period; LPR over 5 years was 4.6%, down 5 basis points from the previous period. Among them, more than five-year LPR is closely related to the mortgage interest rate. Under this adjustment, the mortgage interest rates of the first and second homes of some banks in Shanghai have decreased from the previous 5% and 5.7% to 4.95% and 5.65% respectively, further reducing the burden for home buyers.
Taking the mortgage loan with 1 million yuan and 30-year repayment of equal principal and interest as an example, in Shanghai, before the interest rate adjustment, the interest rate of the first house loan was 5% (LPR + 35bp), and the monthly payment was 536822 yuan; After the interest rate adjustment, the mortgage interest rate of the first house is 4.95%, and the monthly payment is 5337.7 yuan. Based on this calculation, the monthly contribution is reduced by about 30.5 yuan and about 366 yuan a year.
However, it should be noted that this preference is not available to all borrowers. In the actual implementation, different banks may make different adjustments to the addition base according to the qualification of the lender and the external environment at that time. While some banks cut the mortgage interest rate, it is not ruled out that some banks raise the corresponding increase base to ensure that the mortgage interest rate remains unchanged.
In addition to Shanghai, mortgage interest rates in other regions have also been adjusted recently. For example, the four major state-owned banks previously lowered the housing loan interest rate in Guangzhou at the same time. Among them, the interest rate of the first house was reduced from LPR + 100bp (5.6%) to LPR + 80bp (5.4%), and the interest rate of the second house was reduced from LPR + 120bp (5.8%) to LPR + 100bp (5.6%); In addition, some banks in Hangzhou also lowered the mortgage interest rate, of which the first house fell from 5.65% to 5.6%, and the second house fell from 5.85% to 5.7%.
Some analysts said that for home buyers, the further reduction of mortgage interest rate and cost will further activate the reasonable housing consumption demand and activate the trading market. The active supply side and consumption side will promote the prosperity of the real estate industry and help the real estate industry develop in a more stable direction.
“stable” is still the main tone
At the same time, recently, the housing loan policies in many cities have been relaxed. Specific measures include reducing the proportion of down payment, increasing the amount of provident fund loans, issuing house purchase subsidies, etc.
According to incomplete statistics, in the past two months, the proportion of down payment (first set or second set) of housing loans (provident fund or commercial mortgage) has decreased to 12 cities in one province, namely Anhui, Tai’an, Zhuzhou, Zigong, Heze, Zhumadian, Foshan, Beihai, Nanning, Ganzhou, Hefei, Chongqing and Jinzhong; The down payment ratio of commercial loans was reduced to Chongqing, Ganzhou, Jiangxi and Zhumadian, Henan; The cities or provinces where the down payment ratio of provident fund loans is reduced are Tai’an, Anhui, Zhuzhou, Zigong, Heze, Foshan, Beihai, Nanning, Hefei, Jinzhong, etc.
In addition, according to the statistics of Zhongyuan Real Estate Research Institute, since 2022, the national real estate regulation policies have been intensive, and the cumulative number of real estate regulation policies has exceeded 80, of which more than 40 cities have issued policies to stabilize the real estate market.
The latest news is that on March 1, the website of the general office of Zhengzhou Municipal People’s government issued a notice on promoting the virtuous circle and healthy development of the real estate industry, clearly reducing the burden of individual housing consumption, guiding financial institutions in Zhengzhou to increase the investment of individual housing mortgage loans and reduce the interest rate of housing loans. For families who own a house and have settled the corresponding house purchase loans, in order to improve their living conditions and apply for loans again to buy ordinary commercial houses, banking financial institutions implement the first house loan policy. We will promote credit support cooperation and give priority support to financial institutions that support development loans and reduce the interest rate of personal mortgage loans in terms of new government financial deposits, fund accounts and other deposits.
It can be seen that under the city’s policies, all localities are flexibly adjusting policies according to the operation of the real estate market. According to the analysis of relevant people of China Index Research Institute, some unreasonable or untimely policies are expected to be optimized, especially the restrictive policies for rigid demand and improved housing demand. However, it is worth noting that the regulation policy still adheres to continuity and stability, and “stability” is the main tone.
The Ministry of housing and urban rural development has also recently set the tone of the property market in 2022, saying that it will maintain the continuity and stability of regulation and control policies; Enhance the coordination and accuracy of regulatory policies; Resolutely and effectively deal with the risk of overdue delivery of real estate projects caused by debt default of individual real estate enterprises; In addition, we will continue to rectify and standardize the order of the real estate market.
