1st LD-Writethru: China to cut individual housing provident fund loan rates by 0.25 percentage points

BEIJING, May 17 (Xinhua) -- China will cut the loan rates of individual housing provident fund by 0.25 percentage points, the central bank announced Friday.

Starting May 18, the interest rate of first-home loans that mature within or at five years will be set at 2.35 percent, while the over-five-year rate will be slashed to 2.85 percent, the People's Bank of China said on its website.

For second-home purc