New lending rates took effect on New Year's Day in China that should provide some relief for home buyers. CCTV takes a look at the market impact of the change.

Banks in China will offer cheaper loans for home buyers in 2016.

The benchmark lending rate was lowered by the central bank to 4.35 percent in October, down a quarter of a percentage point.

"I have a client who needed to repay 6,300 yuan a month. From this year, the client only has to repay 5,800 yuan," said Zhang Anqi, property agent un Beijing.

Experts say cheaper loans will boost home purchases and help reduce housing inventories.

"The effect of cheaper lending rates may be different. For cities where housing prices are still falling, the impact would be limited. But overall transactions would go up," said Prof. Liu Hongyu, from Tsinghua University.

So far the lending rate for housing mortgages is at a 20-year low.

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