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Some 83 cities adjusted the lower limits of their mortgage rates for first-time home buyers as of the end of March and almost half of the cities set the rate below 4%, according to data from the PBOC.
The average mortgage rate for first-time home buyers was 4.01% in April, a drop of 116 basis points from a year ago and a dip of 1 bp from March, while the average for second-time house purchasers was 4.91%, a drop of 54 bps from a year earlier, according to Beike Research Institute.
Mortgage rates for first-time buyers in second-tier cities dipped by 1 bp in April from March to 3.98%, and that in the smaller third- and fourth-tier cities fell by 2 bps to 3.99%, but the mortgage rate in first-tier cities remained unchanged, showed the data.
Banks are now issuing home mortgage loans at the fastest rate since 2019 and lenders spent around 21 days in April to review a mortgage application, in line with March, according to Beike.