Four major Japanese banks to raise housing loan rates in October

Four major Japanese banks have announced 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 the rate will rise by 0.05 point to 1.14% at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking, by 0.10 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%.