The six major banks' mortgage loans have decreased by 710 billion. Is it worthwhile to pay off your mortgage early now?

Gelonghui April 4｜According to the Daily Economic News, has the risk of early repayment of home loans ended? Starting in the second half of 2022, Chinese individual housing loan borrowers accelerated early repayment and gradually formed a “wave of early repayments” for a period of time. But nowadays, scenes of queueing for tickets at dawn and waiting in line for months are no longer common.

Data compilation shows that banks’ outstanding balance of personal housing loans is still declining. In 2024, as the main force behind mortgage issuance, the personal housing loans of China’s six state-owned banks decreased by 0.62 trillion yuan; and in 2025, the full-year net decrease was 0.71 trillion yuan, with a larger drop compared with 2024. As the outstanding balance of personal mortgages continues to shrink, the personal housing loan balance of all six state-owned banks has moved out of the “trillion-yuan 6” era.

From the national market overall, the outstanding balance of personal housing loans is also moving downward. Data from the PBOC shows that at the end of 2025, the national outstanding balance of personal housing loans was 37.01 trillion yuan, down 1.8% year over year. This indicates that some banks’ outstanding personal mortgage balances even increased, meaning that bank personal housing loans have entered a stage of more fine-tuned competition.

With interest rates at a low level, is it still worth making personal early repayments?

“Whether it’s worth it depends on the current investment or savings return level of consumers, and how big the difference is compared with the mortgage interest rate after the rate cut.” Wang Pengbo, chief analyst at Bocomm Consulting, said. If the investment return rate is higher than the loan interest rate, then the funds can be considered for more allocation to investment; otherwise, partial or full repayment of the loan can be considered. In addition, it is also necessary to leave enough money for daily living expenses as well as for future retirement, medical care, and other needs.

Also, in terms of repayment methods, generally speaking, under the equal principal repayment method, more of the principal is repaid in the early stage and less interest is paid, so early repayment may be more worthwhile to a certain extent. Under the equal principal and interest repayment method, more interest is repaid in the early stage and less principal, so if repayment has already passed the halfway point, you may also not need to consider early repayment.