Hang Seng Bank on Thursday joined two other banks in Hong Kong to raise mortgage lending rates by 25 basis points.
The bank announced that its best lending rates on new home loans were raised to between 2.4 and 3 per cent, depending on borrowers’ credit records, from between 2.15 and 2.75 per cent. The new rates came with immediate effect.
The move follows a similar 0.25 percentage point increase by two of Hong Kong’s leading banks – HSBC and Standard Chartered – on Wednesday.
Hang Seng, a subsidiary of HSBC said the raise was made in response to the latest mortgage market conditions.
The increase also came after the Hong Kong Monetary Authority last month ordered eight banks – including HSBC, Standard Chartered, Hang Seng Bank, Bank of China (Hong Kong) and Bank of East Asia – to keep more capital in their mortgage business, thus increasing the cost of these lenders issuing loans.