China's commercial banks are gaining more room in pricing and risk valuation in mortgage lending, the country's top financial regulators said on last Friday.
上周五，我国国家最高金融监管机构表示，中国商业银行在抵押贷款的定价和风险评估方面正在变得更加灵活。
"Mortgage lending should be further encouraged, as it remains quite safe compared with corperate lending," said Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People's Bank of China, at the conference held by the Institute of International Finance in conjunction with the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting.
在由国际金融研究所召开的G20财长和央行行长联合会议上，中国人民银行行长周小川说：“应当进一步鼓励个人按揭贷款，因为与企业贷款相比，它仍然是相当安全的。”
Zhou said individual mortgage loans in China account only for between 10 percent and 20 percent of total banking loans, "much lower than in some countries, where the ratio is between 40 percent and 50 percent".
周小川表示，中国的个人按揭贷款只占银行总贷款的10%到20%。“与一些国家的40%到50%相比，比例还是相对偏低的。”

The recent move to ease credit terms in mortgage lending does lead to increased leverage, he said, but its leakage into the overall economy remains small.
他表示，最近出台的放宽信用贷款的举措确实会起到增加杠杆的作用，但其对整个经济来说还是杯水车薪。
In response to recent concerns that China's ratio of debt to its economic size has been climbing, Zhou said the main problems don't stem from mortgage lending. "China should focus more on resolving the problem of high corporate leverage," said Zhou.
针对最近中国的债务占其经济规模的比率一直在攀升这一担忧，周小川表示，主要问题并不是由抵押贷款引起。他说，“中国应该着重解决企业的高杠杆问题。”
The People's Bank of China and the China Banking Regulatory Commission announced this month that the minimum down payment for first-time homebuyers in some regions was being reduced from 25 percent to 20 percent, just five months after the authorities dropped the rate from 30 percent to 25 percent. Down payments required for second homes have been lowered from 40 percent to 30 percent.
中国人民银行和中国银行业监督管理委员会在本月宣布，某些地区的家庭第一套住房的最低首付比例将从25%下降到20%，而5个月前，这个比例才从30%下降到25%。二套房首付比例也从40%下降到了30%。
Zhou said a more efficient regulation system should be established to better evaluate the performances of banks, when they are given more flexibility to evaluate risks and pricing for different clients.
周小川说，在为不同的客户评估风险和定价时，应当给予银行更多的灵活性，同时需建立一个更有效的监管体系，以更好的评估银行的表现。