Wendy Zhang/ Shanghai Daily news

Home-buyers can arrange mortgage loans up to a maximum of 80 percent of the price from most local banks, rather than the previous 70 percent, as part of the joint moves by real estate developers and banks to boost the local property market, eastday.com reported today.
Since the end of last year, the Bank of China (BOC), China Construction Bank (CCB), Industrial Bank Co Ltd, Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) and China Everbright Bank began to cooperate with property developers to expand their mortgage loan businesses. At present, among the four largest commercial banks, only the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China still sticks to the 70 percent figure, the other three being BOC, CCB and ABC.
First-time home buyers can apply for mortgage loans of as much as 80 percent of the total property price from ABC, said an employee with a new property project on Hongmei Road in Minhang District.
"We have agreed with three or four banks that home buyers who are teachers, civil servants or employees of the world's top 500 enterprises can get loans of a maximum of 80 percent of price from these banks," said a salesman at a large property project in Pudong.
Even if home buyers do not qualify for such loans, they can get subsidies from property developers, said an industry analyst.
Growing deposits have imposed great pressure on banks to extend loans, as the difference between lending and deposit rates is still the main profit source for banks, the analyst pointed out.
By the end of November last year, local banks reported combined deposit growth of 119.011 billion yuan (US$14.7 billion) net of loans, with more than 620 billion yuan registered as the gap between deposits and loans.
Moreover, since July last year, the city's real estate market saw slower growth for five consecutive months, according to the Shanghai headquarters of the central bank in November last year.
Interest rate hikes and sluggish stock markets have encouraged residents to increase their bank deposits, while banks have limited channels for investment, the analyst explained.