PBOC denies mortgage loans rumor

China's central bank on Thursday denied rumors that first-time homebuyers in Beijing will not enjoy the preferential interest rate on mortgage loans soon, ecns.cn, the website of China News Service, reported.

Beijing-based commercial banks have received a notice from the People's Bank of China (PBOC) saying that starting from Monday homebuyers in Beijing will not enjoy preferential lending rates on first-home mortgages, which equal 85 percent of the benchmark interest rates, financial news portal cailianpress.com reported Thursday.

An unnamed staff member in the PBOC's operations office in Beijing said that the report is false and currently there is no change to the first-home mortgage policy, ecns.cn said.