COMPETITIVE RATES: Interest rates from the five state-run banks last month fell to 1.5 percent, which the central bank attributed to competition among lenders

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 27, 2020
By: Chen Cheng-hui / Staff reporter

New home mortgages from five major state-run banks last month reached the highest level for March, while the average interest rate on new housing loans hit a record low, central bank data released on Thursday showed.

Total new mortgages granted by 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) increased 15.83 percent month-on-month and 15.5 percent year-on-year to NT$53.69 billion (US$1.78 billion) last month, the data showed.

For the first quarter, total new mortgages extended by the banks amounted to NT$138.3 billion, down 16.6 percent from the previous quarter, but up 5.95 percent from a year earlier, the data showed.

The increase in mortgages issued last month reflected recovering demand in the domestic housing market after the Lunar New Year holiday.    [FULL  STORY]