COMPETITION: The interest rates were 0.003 percentage points lower than in May, and the number of housing deals in the six special municipalities fell 8.1 percent

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 23, 2018
By: Staff writer

The average interest rate of new housing loans extended by the five major mortgage providers in the nation last month dropped to an eight-year low, as banks competed with each other to offer cheaper loans.

The average mortgage rate of the five — Bank of Taiwan (台灣銀行), 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) — dipped to 1.624 percent, 0.003 percentage points lower than the 1.627 percent in May, data released by the central bank on Friday last week showed.

It was the lowest since May 2010, when the figure reached 1.616 percent, the data showed.

The five banks’ data are used to gauge the overall health of the nation’s property market, as their combined loans account for about 40 percent of the total mortgages extended by local lenders.    [FULL  STORY]