Shanghai to monitor mortgage lending more closely: document

[BEIJING] Shanghai will increase monitoring of mortgage lending as part of stricter measures to cool an overheated property market, according to a document seen by Reuters on Friday.

Banks will be required to provide details on their home mortgages to buyers, the document released by the central bank's Shanghai branch said.

Shanghai authorities released new rules last month tightening mortgage down payment requirements for second home purchases and increasing the threshold non-residents need to meet to buy homes in the city.

Property prices in top-tier Chinese cities are booming while prices in smaller cities, where most of China's urban population lives, are sinking, complicating government efforts to spread wealth more evenly and arrest slowing economic growth.

REUTERS