Bank of Communications Ltd, China's fourth-largest publicly traded lender, said it made fewer mortgage loans in February and March as it reins in lending and the government seeks to curb property speculation.
Total loans extended by 12 listed banks amounted to 21.77 trillion yuan ($3.19 trillion) in 2009, with property-related loans totaling 5.28 trillion yuan, accounting for over 20 percent.
China's banking regulator told larger banks to conduct quarterly stress tests on property loans and ensure the risks attached to such lending is strictly controlled after the government tightened credit rules to crack down on real-estate speculation.
Commercial banks will be able to refuse loans to people buying their third houses in areas suffering from soaring property prices.
The People's Bank of China, the central bank, said late Friday it would strictly implement the State Council's policies to rein in rapidly climbing property prices.
China's top banking watchdog clarified its chairman's comments on second home purchases late Sunday, saying a 60 percent down payment for second home purchases is a practice carried out by some banks in certain regions, not a rule, the Oriental Morning Post reported.
China's banking regulator said on Sunday that banks should not extend loans to home buyers who intend to use the money for speculative purposes.
Two more Chinese banks tightened mortgage rates for first-home buyers, Beijing Times reported Wednesday.
China will see a further slowdown of loan growth in March, which may help tackle the potential asset bubble possibly generated from the excess liquidity in the market.
A total of 67 listed property developers witnessed their net profits rise by 70 percent year-on-year to 28.25 billion yuan in 2009, but their debts surged 34.34 percent to 510 billion yuan, the Guangzhou Daily reported today.
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263 Registration Number: 20100000002731 
