CRI听力:Home mortgage rates in China rise again

China has recently raised interest rates for home mortgages. 

In August, the average interest rate for first-home mortgages was 5.12%, up 2.47% month-on-month. 

It was the eighth consecutive monthly increase this year. Some banks have even halted home loans.

Meanwhile the contribution of real estate to China's GDP growth was 6.2% in the first half of 2017, down from 8.2% during the same period last year.

Statistics also show that home prices in 15 major cities have declined year on year, ranging from 1.3% to 6.6% in August.

For more on the issues of property markets and government policies, the Beijing Hour’s Shane Bigham spoke earlier with Cao Can, CRI's financial analyst.