Rules now tighter for mortgages in Beijing

China's central bank launched a set of tightened mortgage rules on Friday, the government's latest effort to curb speculative home-buying in Beijing and cool down the red-hot real estate market.

To target faked divorces, Beijing housing mortgage applicants who have been divorced for less than one year will be regarded as second-home buyers, rather than first-home buyers, and therefore will have to pay more down payment and a higher mortgage rate, according to a statement released by the People's Bank of China.

Moreover, there will be stricter investigation of the sources of the down payment, to ban leveraging financial products, and of applicants' ability to pay back the loans. Additionally, real estate agents should not offer illegal housing financing tools like down payment loans, the statement said.