Our reporter Du Yumeng
On May 20, the General Office of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Rural Development officially issued the Notice on Doing a Good Job in Reducing the Individual Housing Loan Interest Rate of Housing Provident Fund (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice"), guiding the Urban Housing Provident Fund Management Center to adjust the individual housing loan interest rate of housing provident fund in a timely manner.
The notice said that according to the requirements of the Notice of the People's Bank of China on Lowering the Interest Rate of Individual Housing Provident Fund Loan, the interest rate of individual housing provident fund loan will be lowered by 0.25 percentage points from May 18, 2024. The interest rate of the first set of individual housing provident fund loan for less than five years (including five years) and more than five years will be adjusted to 2.35% and 2.85% respectively, and for less than five years (including five years) The loan interest rate of the second set of personal housing provident fund and the second set of personal housing provident fund for more than five years are adjusted to not less than 2.775% and 3.325% respectively.
The notice pointed out that for loans with a term of 1 year or less, the contract interest rate should be applied, and the interest should not be calculated in sections; If the loan term is more than one year, the new interest rate regulations shall be implemented according to the corresponding interest rate grades from January 1 of the next year, unless otherwise specified by the state.
The 0.25 percentage point reduction in the housing provident fund loan rate undoubtedly gives greater support to depositors in solving housing problems.
According to the relevant person in charge of the Housing Provident Fund Supervision Department of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Rural Development, taking the first housing provident fund personal housing loan with an amount of 1 million yuan and a term of 30 years as an example, if the repayment method of equal principal and interest is selected, the monthly payment will be reduced from 4270.16 yuan to 4135.57 yuan, reducing by about 135 yuan, and the total interest expenditure will be reduced by 48500 yuan.
Wang Xiaoqiang, chief analyst of Zhuge Data Research Center, said in an interview with the Securities Daily that the interest rate of provident fund loans is a specially formulated fund pool for the housing of employed employees, who enjoy certain housing loan preferences. Reducing the interest rate of personal housing provident fund loans will enable more stable employees to buy houses at lower costs and enhance their ability to buy houses, Stimulate employees with stable employment to enter the market.
As a long-term low interest housing loan for low-income groups, the housing provident fund has played a major role in meeting the housing needs of residents and supporting the housing consumption of depositors.
According to the relevant person in charge of the Housing Provident Fund Supervision Department of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Rural Development, since 2012, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Rural Development has issued 12.9 trillion yuan of housing provident fund personal housing loans, and the loan balance has increased from 2.7 trillion yuan to 7.8 trillion yuan in 2023, supporting nearly 50 million depositors to achieve housing, of which more than 80% are purchasing the first house. In recent years, the housing provident fund personal housing loans have maintained a steady growth year after year. In 2023, the loan balance will increase by nearly 7%, and the newly issued loans will increase by more than 24% year on year, which strongly supports the housing consumption of depositors.
With the announcement of the People's Bank of China on May 17 to reduce the interest rate of individual housing provident fund loans, according to the incomplete statistics of the reporter of Securities Daily, so far, many cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Zhengzhou, Changsha, Nanjing, Suzhou, Chengdu, Chongqing and other cities, have been officially announced and implemented.
In the opinion of Li Yujia, the chief researcher of Guangdong Housing Policy Research Center, in addition to lowering the loan interest rate of individual housing provident fund, the People's Bank of China recently announced to cancel the lower limit of the commercial individual housing loan interest rate policy for the first and second housing nationwide, and adjust the minimum down payment ratio of individual housing loans, This shows that the current real estate market has entered the stage of cost reduction. This kind of cost reduction is mainly aimed at the reversal of the current supply and demand relationship in the real estate market, that is, the demand subject turns to new citizens, young people and migrant population.
