Financial Services Association, September 29 (Reporter Guo Zishuo) Before the National Day holiday, major new policies, such as a new round of stock mortgage interest rate cuts, were one after another, injecting a dose of “strength” into the property market's “gold, nine, silver, ten,” and several real estate developers fought for the National Day Golden Week.

Meanwhile, the Financial Services Association reporter noticed that major state-owned banks are already targeting this point and are taking the lead in launching a series of promotions for viewing buildings and signing contracts.

On September 29, China Construction Bank Guangdong Zhongshan Branch released news on its official account, “Welcome to the National Day, the huge benefits of buying a house are 'super benefit'” and “100% of the Golden, Nine, and Silver were selected in the lottery.” A Financial Services Association reporter noticed that the event was initiated by the head office of China Construction Bank at the national level and recently launched in Zhongshan.

According to Oriental Fortune Choice data, the six major state-owned banks had a total personal housing loan balance of 26.12 trillion yuan in the first half of the year, accounting for 77% of the total personal housing loan balances of 42 listed banks.

According to public information, as one of the six major state-owned banks, CCB now took the lead in deploying the “Gold Nine, Silver, and Ten” National Day mortgage promotion, becoming the first major state-owned bank to launch this campaign after the official announcement of a new round of stock mortgage reduction.

CCB announces nationwide housing purchase promotions, and branches of major state-owned banks are also taking action

It is no surprise that China Construction Bank took the lead in developing the housing loan business. A Financial Services Association reporter noticed that although the size of CCB's personal housing loans declined slightly in the first half of the year, it is still a pillar in the overall retail credit ratio. By the end of June 2024, CCB's personal housing loan balance decreased by 76.466 billion yuan to 6.31 trillion yuan compared to the end of the previous year. However, the personal housing loan balance still accounts for 72.05% of the bank's total personal loans and advances.

In addition to CCB's nationwide mortgage marketing activities, local branches and branches of some major state-owned banks are also taking action recently. The Guangdong branch of the Bank of Communications joined forces with China Merchants Shekou. Starting October 1, Bank of Communications employees or customers recommended by the Bank of Communications can enjoy additional discounts during the Home Purchase Festival; ICBC Guangzhou Branch will join forces with China Resources Land. Starting September 27, China Resources Land Guangzhou's current sales project will focus on selling high-quality units. Some properties enjoy limited preferential units, and ICBC recommended customers can also enjoy exclusive discounts; ICBC recommends customers to successfully purchase China Resources Land Guangzhou's sales projects and have the opportunity to receive certain home purchase gifts, etc.

Yan Yuejin, deputy director of the Shanghai Yiju Real Estate Research Institute, told the Financial Federation reporter that from a bank's perspective, major state-owned banks are actively digesting existing policies and launching mortgage promotion activities. This is actually a positive sign, and it also reflects their expectations for the overall real estate market sales situation.

Li Yujia, chief researcher at the Housing Policy Research Center of the Guangdong Urban Planning Institute, pointed out in an interview with a reporter from the Financial Association: “In the past, sales of new homes increased and second-hand housing transactions were active. The mortgage market was huge, and all banks could get a share of the pie. Currently, banks are facing a stock mortgage market. On the one hand, the share of mortgages has shrunk, and on the other hand, the lower limit of mortgage interest rates has been liberalized. In order to seize the market, various commercial banks also take the initiative to seize customers through marketing 'internal volumes'.”

Li Yujia pointed out, “For banks, on the one hand, mortgages are still high-quality assets. On the other hand, through mortgage business, banks also have the opportunity to further understand customer needs and expand personal businesses, such as personal finance, insurance product purchases, personal entrepreneurship loans, consumer loans, etc. Taken together, other banks are likely to follow suit.”

Housing credit is still a key investment direction for various households in the second half of the year

Although interest rates on stock mortgage loans are still on a downward trend and are under pressure to adjust interest rates on stock mortgages, as high-quality credit assets, mortgage loans have always been a contender for banks.

Recently, during the mid-reporting season, several senior state-owned banks revealed that personal housing loans are the key retail credit investment direction of each bank in the second half of the year.

Wang Bing, deputy governor of China Construction Bank, proposed at the bank's 2024 interim results conference that it is necessary to “consolidate the traditional advantages of personal housing loans.” Wang Bing said that CCB will further explore effective credit needs, accelerate the transformation of reserve projects, maintain reasonable credit growth and balanced investment, continue to strengthen retail credit business development, and vigorously promote retail credit campaigns.

Liu Jin, deputy governor of the Bank of China, also pointed out that in the RMB business, the asset structure will continue to be optimized, support for key areas such as new productivity and the “Five Major Articles” in finance will be increased, investment in personal housing and consumer loans will be increased, and the incremental contribution of personal loans will be further enhanced.

Postbank retail director Liang Shidong said that in the first half of this year, the Postbank invested nearly 200 billion dollars in mortgages, a net increase of more than 20 billion yuan. In the next step, the Postbank will also focus on policy guidelines to continue the development strategy and development advantages of the first half of the year. The first is to insist on supporting the demand for immediate and improved housing; the second is to insist on putting equal emphasis on second-hand housing; and the third is to insist on making efforts in key regions, high-energy markets, and county markets. In short, we will continue to maintain the steady, healthy and orderly development of the housing mortgage business.