The central bank has relaxed the loan percentage for second homes to 70%, and nearly 50% of the people want to lift the upper limit

Nearly 50% of people hope that the upper limit on loan percentages will be lifted, and 10% of people believe that a grace period should be provided for purchasing a second home. (Photo by reporter Zhu Yuqiao)

On September 17, the Central Bank's Joint Meeting of Governors and Supervisors responded to public opinion and relaxed the loan percentage for second homes from 60% to 70%. According to an online poll conducted by the National Federation of Real Estate Agents and Brokers Associations of the Republic of China in September, nearly 50% of the public hoped to remove the upper limit on the loan percentage and let the bank assess the loan percentage on its own. 70% of the people also believed that a grace period should be provided for the purchase of a second home to make financing for home purchases more flexible.

Wang Ruiqi, chairman of the National Association of Real Estate Agents, said that there are many demands for buying a second home for self-use, including buying first and then selling, working and studying in another place, holding shares and inheritance, elderly care, dividing households for children, taking care of parents, etc. There are many non-investment factors in buying a second home. In this survey, 50.7% of the people who bought the second house were for self-use, and not all second homes were purchased for investment. In line with public opinion, the central bank has relaxed the loan percentage for second homes to 70%, and it is good to see the central bank gradually relaxing the shackles on home purchases.

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In this survey, nearly 50% of the people want to cancel the loan limit and return to banks to make their own assessments. Wang Ruiqi said that since the implementation of credit control two years ago, banks are afraid of violating the central bank's regulations and have strictly reviewed their lending. Although the central bank has raised the upper limit to 70% this time, banks still need to actively cooperate so that people can get 70% of the loans.

Another 70% of the public believe that a grace period should be provided, of which 34.8% believe that a grace period of 3 to 5 years should be provided, and 39.0% believe that a grace period of less than 3 years should be provided. They hope that the government will pay attention and continue to relax restrictions on purchasing second homes in the future and provide a grace period.

Lin Jinxiong, chairman of the think tank committee of the National Association of Real Estate Agents, believes that the survey shows that people are relatively indifferent to the "18-month cut-off period for selling the original house". 28.6% think it does not need to be relaxed, 26.6% think it should be returned to 12 months, and 20.0% think it should be relaxed to 24 months. This shows that this condition is not the focus of public concern. The central bank extended the cut-off time to 18 months, which is very limited in increasing the willingness to buy houses.

He said that at present, about 60% of people think that the best financial tool is stocks, followed by real estate. Domestic funds have obviously turned to the stock market, and many stock market investors have mortgaged real estate to finance investments in the stock market. Financial risks have not decreased but increased. Once the stock market reverses, the real estate industry may be dragged down and harmed. The government should establish a fire prevention mechanism in advance.

Wang Ruiqi said that canceling the upper limit of loan ratio and providing a grace period are the aspirations of people buying houses for self-use. Moderately guiding stock market funds back to the housing market is the best way to reduce overall financial risks.

Sample conditions: A total of 500 valid questionnaires were recovered. At a 95% confidence level, the sampling error is approximately ±4.4 percentage points.

Investigating Unit: Internet Real Estate King