(Yicai Global) Feb. 13 -- Southern China's Nanning has updated its mortgage policy to allow homeowners to keep repaying their property purchases until the age of 80 ahead of a nationwide plan to raise the retirement age. 

Home buyers can apply for the loan extension at a handful of local banks, a realtor in the capital city of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region said to Yicai Global recently. At the moment, the policy is applicable to commercial loans and not housing provident fund loans.

The policy shift is based on a simple mathematical model. After this, home buyers who are up to 50 years of age can apply for 30-year loans. Before this, the key figure was 70 so applicants had to be under 40.

The extension has something to do with the plan to postpone the mandatory age for retirement, Yan Yuejin, research director at E-House China R&D Institute, told Yicai Global. It means that borrowers will have more years of guaranteed salaries and the new policy should help meet the needs of senior citizens who require home care, Yan added.

Amid the aging population trend, China's government has proposed delaying the retirement age to 65 from 60 (men) and 55 years (women).

Nanning's property market could use a booster as the transaction volume of residential apartments has fallen for three years in a row since 2020 amid the Covid-19 pandemic, according to data from the China Index Academy. Last year, the area of sold residential housing in downtown Nanning dropped nearly 34 percent to less than 4 million square meters from 2021.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi