Commercial banks in Beijing are tightening their first apartment loan policy and adopting a stricter qualification check on clients who want to buy a second apartment, insiders said.

An employee of a China Construction Bank branch, who declined to be named, said since November 2009, clients applying for mortgage loans can only enjoy a 10 percent discount if their down payment is 20 percent. Only when they pay 40 percent of the down payment can they get a 30 percent discount.

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And customers at the Bank of China can only get discounts of as much as 15 percent instead of the standard 30 percent, Xinhuanet.com reported.

However, an employee surnamed Liu from the China Merchants Bank in Beijing told METRO they were still offering unchanged loans to their customers, but the rate is expected to drop by 5 percent in February.

"Even for those who just filed an application, they might have missed their last chance since they have to go through all the negotiations with the real estate developers," Liu said.

Zhang Lei, an agent with Homelink Real Estate, said he recently dealt with seven banks and noticed that some had already changed their policies.

A customer manager from a China Construction Bank outlet said they have now imposed a stricter qualification check, with the approval time lengthened to as long as several months.

"This change didn't happen overnight," Gai Yunfeng, a consultant with the house agency 5i5j, told METRO.

"As far as I know, the government policy had forced a tighter control on the real estate industry, especially for customers who are buying a second apartment," he said.

He predicted the favorable rate for customers would be dropped in 2010, as the market slows.

According to statistics from the People's Bank of China, loans for real estate developers and individual customers increased greatly in 2009 to match demand. Personal housing loans also grew by almost 70 percent compared to 2008.

"This tighter policy is the result of an adjustment on loan regulations from the central government," Guo Tianyong, director of the China Banking Research Center of the Central University of Finance and Economics, said in an interview with Xinhuanet.com.

He noted that the regulation is being implemented by some banks to put the brakes on the increasing loan rate.

"Since there is no clear-cut policy among banks and the house price is still fluctuating, I choose to wait until the policy and price are stable," said Ma Yue, a market assistant from the China National Pharmaceutical Industry Corporation.