China has announced that it will increase the Public Housing Fund (PHF) mortgage rates for first-time home buyers, in line with the latest increase in the country’s benchmark interest rates.
According to a statement released by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, mortgage rates for loans with more than five years of maturity period under the PHF scheme will increase to 4.5 percent, from the current 4.3 percent.
Meanwhile, rates for loans with a maturity period of five years or less will be raised to 4.0 percent, an increase of 25 basis points from the current 3.75 percent.
This move follows the Chinese central bank’s increase of the benchmark one-year deposit and lending rate by as much as 25 basis points for the third time since October 2010.