(Bloomberg) -- The Shanghai branch of China’s central bank urged commercial banks to accelerate real estate lending, according to people familiar with the matter, adding to signs that regulatory efforts to arrest a home-market slowdown are spreading to some of the country’s biggest cities. 

In previously unreported guidance earlier this month, regulators called on banks to ensure growth in both residential mortgages and loans to developers over the next few months, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private information. Mortgages shouldn’t increase at a slower pace than other loans, the people said. 

The Shanghai branch of the People’s Bank of China didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.

The move signals that real estate loosening emerging in smaller cities with weaker economies is starting to spread to some of its largest hubs, as policy makers try to engineer a soft landing for the property market. While most residential sales come from third- and fourth-tier cities, large urban centers like Shanghai are often considered a bellwether of buyer confidence. 

The central bank has pivoted to easing mode to stem financial contagion in a real estate sector that accounts for about a quarter of economic output. Last month, the de facto benchmark lending rates were lowered after the central bank cut policy loan rates and pledged more easing to stabilize the economy.

While the five-year loan prime rate, a reference for long-term loans including mortgages, was only reduced by a smaller 5 basis points, it paved the way for banks to lower mortgage rates. In the southern trading hub of Guangzhou, the biggest state-owned Chinese banks cut mortgage rates for homebuyers starting Monday, local media reported. 

That follows cuts to mortgage down payments for some homebuyers in several smaller cities last week, according to local news reports. 

State media has signaled that the government’s credit support may persist even after policy rates and loan prime rates were kept unchanged in February. There is still room to cut rates and the bank reserve requirement ratio, the China Securities Journal said in a front-page report Tuesday, citing analysts. 

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