The nation’s five major state-run banks extended NT$111.046 billion (US$3.46 billion) in new mortgages last month, up NT$14.305 billion from the previous month and returning above the NT$100 billion mark, central bank data released yesterday showed.
The figure had fallen below the NT$100 billion mark in August for the first time in four months as the central bank continued its efforts to cool the domestic housing market and contain real-estate speculation and property hoarding.
The 14.79 percent monthly increase in new mortgages by the Bank of Taiwan (臺灣銀行), Land Bank of Taiwan (土地銀行), Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合作金庫銀行), Hua Nan Commercial Bank (華南銀行) and First Commercial Bank (第一銀行) last month stemmed from a higher number of whole-batch mortgage cases compared with the previous month, the central bank said.
Photo: Hsu Yi-ping, Taipei Times
In addition, several local lenders accelerating their processing of previously accumulated first-time purchases and owner-occupied units also pushed up the new mortgage figures, it said.
However, it would require further observation to determine whether last month’s increase was a short-term phenomenon, as various data released recently showed that the housing market has cooled down slightly compared with the hot market in the first half of the year, it added.
Despite the growth in new mortgages, the average mortgage rate charged by the five state-run banks declined 0.004 basis points from 2.194 percent in August to 2.19 percent last month, mainly due to the higher proportion of first-time purchases and owner-occupied cases, which usually come with more favorable rates from lenders, the central bank said.
It also reflected a declining proportion of the government’s preferential loans for first-home buyers in the total new mortgages, which fell to 34.37 percent last month, the lowest since September last year, the central bank said.
Since the government’s preferential loan program carries relatively lower interest rates, a lower proportion of such loans affected the average mortgage rate less than expected, it said.
During the first nine months of this year, the five state-run banks extended NT$880.771 billion of new mortgages, a record for the period and up 76.4 percent from NT$499.296 billion a year earlier, the data showed.
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