For almost a year, Beijing office worker Hydie Wang, 26, has helped her mother pay off her mortgage every month. When the central bank raised its lending rate on Thursday, home mortgages rose accordingly, but Ms Wang was not overly concerned.
'The price of the 200-square-metre apartment was 900,000 yuan and we paid back about 600,000 yuan in one instalment. For the past four years, I've been paying back 6,000 yuan a month at the old interest rate,' she said.
Ms Wang calculated the 27 basis point rise would add an extra 500 to 600 yuan to her payments over the next three years, a burden she could bear.
'I don't really care about the hike. I can easily save the money by avoiding a few meals,' she said.
Sun Lei , 27, an online project manager for a Beijing company, was similarly unfazed by the rate rise. He used a national housing fund to get a mortgage for a 130-square-metre apartment in Beijing's Yizhuang area. For him, the rate rise equated to an 18 basis points increase.
But Beijing-based auditor Tracy Gao, 26, who took out a mortgage in March for her 100-square-metre apartment, said that she was worried about further rate rises.
