Bank of Taiwan (台灣銀行) yesterday tightened credit for borrowers seeking mortgages for luxury homes or a second home —- a move supporting the government’s efforts to curb overheating property prices.
The bank will cut its loan to value (LTV) ratio by 15 percent to mortgage borrowers who plan to take up luxury properties worth more than NT$80 million (US$2.5 million) in the greater Taipei area or NT$50 million outside Taipei, the bank said in a statement.
The LTV ratio for luxury home buyers will reach 65 percent with their mortgage interest rate increasing by 0.5 percentage points, the bank said.
For mortgage borrowers who plan to take up a second property, the bank will also cut the normal 80 percent ceiling on the LTV ratio by 10 percent and raise the mortgage interest rate by 0.25 percentage points, the statement said.
State-run Land Bank of Taiwan (土地銀行) also announced it would raise mortage rates and cut the number of loans for luxury homes, in a statement posted on the Ministry of Finance Web site.
The measure, however, will not apply to homebuyers upgrading to new property, the statement said.
The bank’s mortgage control measures came one day after central bank Deputy Governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) told the legislature that the bank believed targeted credit control measures would be more appropriate than a hike in policy rates to rein in property prices in selected areas.
Meanwhile, Sinyi Realty Co (信義房屋), the nation’s biggest real estate brokerage, rolled out its home staging services yesterday.
The program aims to help home sellers attract more potential buyers and sell their properties faster.
The realtor has cooperated with a local interior design firm to help home sellers decorate their residences, saying that the service has long been provided by real estate agents in the US and can reduce the amount of time a house stays listed on the property market.
“Through home staging techniques, an old property can be transformed into a warm and homey residence,” Lin Yang-hsu (林洋旭), senior agent with Sinyi, told a media briefing in Taipei.
“Our experience has shown, the better decorated a house is, the more appealing it is to buyers,” Lin said, adding that two-thirds of potential buyers would choose properties with better decor.
Home staging services are charged at a rate of NT$1,500 per ping, Lin said, far less than the cost of traditional house renovations.
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