China tightens loan rules to cool Beijing's property market

Potential home buyers check out a property project in Beijing. [Photo/VCG]

BEIJING - China's central bank announced tightened housing mortgage rules on Friday to curb speculative purchases in Beijing's property market and control credit risk.

Targeting fake divorces, Beijing housing mortgage applicants who divorced less than one year ago will be regarded as second-home buyers and have to pay a higher down payment, according to a statement released by the People's Bank of China.

There will be stricter investigation of the source of the down payment to ban leveraging financial products, and commercial banks should refuse to offer loans to applicants who violate the rules, the statement added.

Commercial banks should earnestly investigate the applicants' housing loan records to determine whether they are first-home buyers or not and evaluate their ability to pay back the loans.

Real estate agents should not offer illegal housing financing tools such as down payment loans, and commercial banks should stop cooperating with those who violate the above rules, the statement added.

Beijing decided last week to cool the city's property market by raising the down payment for second homes and suspending housing loans with a maturity of 25 years or more.

New residential home prices in Beijing fell 0.1 percent month on month but rose 24.1 percent year on year in February, while prices for second-hand homes rose 1.3 percent compared with January and 32.2 percent compared with those in 2016, official data showed.

Following Beijing, a string of cities have rolled out tightened rules to curb property market speculation since last Friday.