Down payment for second-home buyers to hit 70%

The down payment for second-home buyers in Beijing will be raised to 70 percent from 60 percent, according to media reports on Monday.

The 10 percent increase will be applied to commercial lenders in Beijing and to the public reserve fund center, in a bid to further curb speculative home purchases and cool down the market.

Beijing's public reserve fund center said in an online statement on Sunday that the down payment for second-home buyers will be increased 10 percent, but that the mortgage rates will remain unchanged at 1.1 times the benchmark interest rate.

According to Beijing Business Today, the Beijing operations office of the People's Bank of China on Sunday also issued a notice to commercial banks in the capital, requiring the down payment for second-home buyers to be raised to 70 percent, without mentioning a further hike in the mortgage rate for those buyers. Loans to third-home buyers are prohibited, it added.

Industry analysts said that considering the central government's determination to rein in the property market, commercial banks' mortgage rates for second-home buyers is not likely to be lower than 1.1 times the benchmark interest rate.