China Property Loans Grow After Bank Curbs Loosened

Outstanding loans in China’s embattled property development sector rose 6% to 53.22 trillion yuan ($7.96 trillion) at the end of the first quarter, according to People’s Bank of China data.

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

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 central bank data.

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

• Reuters, with additional editing by George Russell

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George Russell

George Russell is a freelance writer and editor based in Hong Kong who has lived in Asia since 1996. His work has been published in the Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, New York Post, Variety, Forbes and the South China Morning Post.