China's outstanding property loans up 6% y/y at end-Q1

CHINA'S outstanding property loans totalled 53.22 trillion yuan (S$11 trillion) at the end of the first quarter, up 6 per cent from a year earlier, the central bank said in a statement on Friday (May 6).

New property loans climbed to 1.05 trillion yuan in the first quarter from 770 billion yuan in the fourth quarter of 2021, according to Reuters' calculations based on the central bank data.

Authorities have loosened some financing controls for the property sector in a bid to bolster the economy hurt by widespread Covid-19 lockdowns.

Outstanding individual mortgages stood at 38.84 trillion yuan at the end of the first quarter, up 8.9 per cent from a year earlier, the central bank said.

The figures imply that new mortgages fell to 520 billion yuan in the first quarter from 950 billion yuan in the previous quarter.

The interest rate for new individual mortgages stood at 5.42 per cent in March, down 17 basis points from the beginning of the year, the central bank said.

Outstanding property development loans stood at 12.56 trillion yuan at the end of the first quarter, down 0.4 per cent from a year earlier, the bank said. REUTERS