The growth in individual mortgage lending eased in Shanghai in the first quarter of this year due to continuously rigid controls on the sector, the local banking authority said in its latest quarterly report.

By March, the outstanding value of mortgages at the city's domestic and overseas banks stood at 304.69 billion yuan (US$43.52 billion), an increase of 3.394 billion yuan, or 1.1 percent, from a quarter earlier, the Shanghai Bureau of the China Banking Regulatory Commission said.

And during the first quarter, month-on-month individual mortgage lending increased 3.74 billion yuan in January, 388 million yuan in February and dropped 735 million yuan in March.

The downward trend recorded in the first three months was a result of both seasonal adjustment and combined effects of a series of government policies, the local bureau said.

The city's individual mortgage loans started to drop sharply in the fourth quarter of last year after the central bank and the banking regulator required mortgage holders who apply for another home loan to produce a down payment of at least 40 percent and pay a 10-percent premium on interest rates. The requirements for third or fourth mortgage are stricter. The regulators also clarified the definition of second and multi-mortgages.

However, during the same period, mortgage lending taken by non-Shanghainese - those from overseas and other parts of the country - jumped significantly, according to the report. By March, the outstanding value of mortgages taken by non-Shanghainese reached 129.8 billion yuan, an increase of 2.247 billion yuan from a quarter earlier. That accounted for 66.2 percent of the total increase during the period.

Meanwhile, the city's property development lending recovered in the January-March period, rising 5.1 percent, or 10.53 billion yuan, to 218.31 billion yuan. Residential real estate lending increased 6.718 billion yuan to 73.9 billion yuan, the banking regulator said.

The bureau said that the bad loan ratio for individual mortgage lending had increased 0.03 percentage point to 0.71 percent by March, with outstanding value of bad loan of that type hitting a total of 2.16 billion yuan.

(Shanghai Daily May 9, 2008)