4 Major Banks to Raise 10-year Fixed Housing Loan Rates in Oct.

Jiji Press

16:10 JST, October 1, 2023

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — 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% from 0.5% in July. On Friday, the benchmark yield briefly hit a 10-year high of 0.77%.

MUFG Bank will raise its 10-year rate for most preferred customers by 0.06 percentage point to 0.94%, while such rate will rise by 0.05 point to 1.14% at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., by 0.1 point to 1.45% at Mizuho Bank and by 0.08 point to 1.65% at Resona Bank.

On the other hand, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank lowered its most preferred rate by 0.04 point to 1.26% 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 0.34% and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank by 0.07 point to 0.405%.