Central Bank: Interest Rate, Reserve Ratio, and Down Payment Cuts
On the morning of September 24th, the State Council Information Office held a press conference where Pan Gongsheng, Governor of the People's Bank of China, Li Yunze, Director of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, and Wu Qing, Chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, introduced the financial support for high-quality economic development and answered questions from journalists.
At the press conference, the People's Bank of China announced that it will soon cut the reserve requirement ratio by 0.5 percentage points, providing about 1 trillion yuan of long-term liquidity to the financial market.
There may be another opportunity to reduce the reserve requirement ratio by 0.25-0.5 percentage points before the end of the year.
At the same time, the central bank's policy interest rates will be lowered, with the 7-day reverse repo operation rate cut by 0.2 percentage points, from the current 1.7% to 1.5%, guiding the Loan Prime Rate (LPR) and deposit rates to move downward synchronously, maintaining the net interest margin of commercial banks stable.
For the highly watched housing loan aspect, Pan Gongsheng announced that the existing housing loan interest rates will be reduced and the minimum down payment ratio for housing loans will be unified.
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Commercial banks are guided to reduce the interest rates on existing housing loans to a level close to that of newly issued housing loans, with an expected average reduction of about 0.5 percentage points.
He stated that the expected reduction in existing housing loan interest rates will benefit about 50 million households, 150 million people, and reduce family interest expenses by about 150 billion yuan per year on average.
Pan Gongsheng indicated that banks will need a certain amount of time for technical preparation for the adjustment of housing loan interest rates.
Subsequently, the mechanism for commercial banks' mortgage loans will be improved, and banks and customers will negotiate dynamically based on market-oriented principles.
The country will no longer differentiate between first and second homes, unifying the minimum down payment ratio to 15%.
Pan Gongsheng announced that the minimum down payment ratio for second housing loans at the national level will be reduced from 25% to 15%, unifying the minimum down payment ratio for first and second housing loans.
The country will no longer differentiate between first and second homes at the national level, with a unified minimum down payment ratio of 15%.
Localities can determine whether to implement differentiated down payment ratio limits based on this.
Commercial banks will determine the specific down payment ratio based on the customer's risk status and willingness.
Pan Gongsheng stated that new monetary policy tools will be created to support the stable development of the stock market.
The creation of securities, fund, and insurance company swap facilities will support qualified securities, fund, and insurance companies to obtain liquidity from the central bank through asset pledge, significantly increasing their ability to obtain funds and increase their holdings.
Special re-lending will be created to guide banks to provide loans to listed companies and major shareholders, supporting stock buybacks and increases.
Analysis: Stabilizing economic growth through concessionary policies, Zhou Maohua, a macro researcher at the financial market department of Everbright Bank, said in an interview with Dahe Financial Cube reporters that the central bank's unprecedented efforts to stabilize the housing market by reducing existing housing loan interest rates and significantly reducing the down payment ratio for home purchases demonstrate the central bank's determination to stabilize the housing market, which will have a positive impact on multiple fronts.
The central bank's guidance to financial institutions to reasonably reduce existing housing loan interest rates helps to avoid widening the interest rate gap between new and old housing loans, which is conducive to better stabilizing bank business; it helps to reduce the monthly mortgage interest expenses of existing homeowners, releasing a comprehensive consumption effect; the central bank's significant reduction in the down payment ratio for home purchases this time helps to lower the threshold for home purchases, which is conducive to stimulating demand for first-time and improved housing needs; at the same time, active policies help to stabilize confidence in the recovery of the housing market.
The recovery momentum of the domestic housing market and consumption is enhanced, and the economy is expected to recover more quickly.
Zheng Jiawei, Chief Fixed Income Analyst at Ningxin Securities Research Institute, said that the central bank aims to reduce the financing costs of the real economy, resolve the insufficiency of effective domestic demand, and stabilize economic growth through concessionary policies by lowering interest rates, reducing reserve requirements, and reducing existing housing loan interest rates.
These policy adjustments will help promote the healthy development of the real estate market, reduce the payment ratio of housing loans, improve the level of consumption, and promote the stabilization and recovery of the economy.
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