Mortgage loans in Shanghai drop in August

Shanghai’s stock of individual mortgages dropped 1.06 billion yuan or S$209 million last month, as property cooling measures implemented by the central government hit home purchases.

The decline followed after net new mortgage loans in Shanghai rose by a tiny 270 million yuan in July, compared to the 3.08 billion yuan increase in June, a slow-moving trend since the central government announced a campaign to cool down rising property prices in April.

The Shanghai branch of the People's Bank of China (PBOC), which released the figures, did not disclose how big the stock of outstanding mortgage loans in the city was by the end of August.

The central bank also did not comment on housing prices in Shanghai, which is regarded as one of the benchmarks for the country's urban real estate market, along with Beijing and Shenzhen.