The value of reverse mortgages grew at a slower pace last quarter as the central bank’s rate hikes increased interest payments for such loans, the Financial Supervisory Commission said last week.
Reverse mortgages allow homeowners to borrow money against the value of their homes without having to move out, with monthly interest payments linked to the central bank’s policy rates.
Most local banks offer reverse mortgages to people over the age of 60, the commission said.
Photo: Kelson Wang, Taipei Times
Last quarter, reverse mortgages rose 3.64 percent quarter-on-quarter to NT$36.2 billion, the third-lowest quarterly increase on record, the commission said.
Two of the 15 banks providing reverse mortgages reported a lower sum than the previous quarter, it said.
The commission attributed the slower momentum to the central bank implementing three consecutive rate hikes from March.
The number of reverse mortgage applications in Taipei was flat last quarter, commission data showed.
The number of reverse mortgage applications in Taipei and New Taipei City totaled 3,273 at the end of last month, or 50.96 percent of the total, down from 51.48 percent at the end of last year, while applications in Yunlin County, Chiayi County and Tainan increased to 8.23 percent, up from 7.82 percent over the same period, the commission said.
The commission said the increase in the number of applications in southern Taiwan reflected a recent uptick in housing prices in the region, as well as an increase in consumer interest.
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