Tokyo: Four major Japanese banks have said that they will raise their 10-year fixed housing loan rates for the third consecutive month in October.
The hikes come as Japanese government bond yields rise after the Bank of Japan effectively raised its 10-year JGB yield cap to 1 pct from 0.5 pct in July. On Friday, the benchmark yield briefly hit a 10-year high of 0.77 pct.
MUFG Bank will raise its 10-year rate for most preferred customers by 0.06 percentage point to 0.94 pct, while such rate will rise by 0.05 point to 1.14 pct at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., by 0.10 point to 1.45 pct at Mizuho Bank and by 0.08 point to 1.65 pct at Resona Bank.
On the other hand, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank lowered its most preferred rate by 0.04 point to 1.26 pct after revising its interest rate system.
Meanwhile, three of the five banks will keep their variable housing loan rates, which are based on short-term interest rates, unchanged. Resona Bank will lower its prime variable rate by 0.03 point to 0.340 pct and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank by 0.07 point to 0.405 pct.
JIJI Press
