Individual housing loans in 1999 is quite small in size compared with the country's total outstanding loans, experts said.
By the end of last year, individual housing loans amounted to 126 billion yuan. Total outstanding loan stood at 9.4 trillion and GDP at 8.2 trillion. The proportion of housing loan against total loans was 1.5 percent, far lower than the general 30 percent in other countries, "China Securities" said.
Apart from changing people's spending habits, better financial services must be introduced to help increase housing loans, according to Xie Jiajin, director of Housing and Real Estate Department in the Ministry of Construction.
Xie called for simplified procedures in loan application and introduction of insurance and guarantee policies.
