Municipal Governments Gear up for Housing Funds to Play More Active Role in Home Loans

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Municipal governments around China are adopting measures to push for their local housing funds to play a more active role in providing mortgages to aspiring homeowners.

According to a report from state-owned media over 20 municipal governments around China have made significant changes to their housing fund policies since July, chief amongst them adjustments to loan quotas, extension of permitted maturities, and simplification of lending procedures.

These cities include Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province; Nanning, the capital of Guangxi province, the Hubei capital of Wuhan, Yangzhou and Wuxi in Jiangsu province, and Xingtai in Hebei province.

The objective of housing funds around China is to expand lending to aspiring home-owners from low-income backgrounds.

According to the “National Housing Fund 2018 Annual Report” (全国住房公积金2018年年度报告) in 2018 borrowers from low-income backgrounds accounted for 95.73% of personal home loans made by housing funds.

85.91% of loans were for first home buyers, while 89.45% were standard home loans for units with areas of 144 square metres and under. 72.76% of loans were made to professionals aged 40 and under.