In an attempt to stimulate China’s flagging housing market, banks in some cities are extending the upper age limit on mortgages to between 80 and 95.
But the new offerings, from banks and lenders across several Chinese provinces, include limits of up to 90 or even 100 years. They allow older people to apply for mortgages of 20 or more years, and middle-aged people to apply for mortgages with longer repayment periods.
Government restrictions on borrowing caused a cashflow crunch for property developers last year. Several companies, leaving people without the homes they had taken out mortgages for. Delayed housing projects triggered at least 282 protests across China between May and December last year, according to China Dissent Monitor, a project run by Freedom House, an American research organisation.