Central bank asks lenders for mortgage data

“The central bank needs to gather more data before it can formulate any policy,” Tsai Jiun-hsiung, deputy head of the banking department at the Central Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan) said by telephone Monday. Financial companies must submit information on their latest lending policies such as mortgage rates and loan criteria within three days, Tsai said.

Banks on the island of 23 million people have cut mortgage lending rates to the lowest since records began, driving prices of residential property in the Taipei metropolitan area up by 20 percent last year, according to Sinyi Realty Co., Taiwan's biggest real-estate brokerage. Outstanding loans for residential property purchases rose to NT$4.93 trillion at the end of January, according to central bank data.

“It's another move to prevent prices of housing units in premium areas from rising further,” said Tiger Cheng, an economist at Polaris Securities Co. in Taipei. “The surging prices of certain luxury houses don't leave a good impression on the public.”

A government report said in December that 76.3 percent of people surveyed the previous month were concerned about high housing prices in metropolitan areas.

Perng Fai-nan, Taiwan's central bank governor, in November asked state-controlled banks to tighten scrutiny of home mortgages as property prices advanced. The central bank on Dec. 25 kept the discount rate on 10-day loans to banks at a record-low 1.25 percent.

Land Bank of Taiwan, a state-owned lender, plans to cut the maximum mortgage it will give home owners who own more than two houses to 60 percent from 80 percent, the United Evening News reported Monday, citing comments Chairman Wang Yao-shing made to lawmakers Monday. Taiwan Cooperative Bank only lends a maximum 60 percent of the value of apartments valued more than NT$100 million, the report said.

Subscribe to The China Post and save 25%. Click here

SharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Terms

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos
 Respond to this email