BEIJING, March 20 -- While domestic house buyers are expected to take a wait-and-see attitude after the recent rise in central bank interest rates, industry experts foresee little change in house prices.

    Starting Sunday, the one-year loan rate and the one-year deposit rate have been both increased by 0.27 basis points to 6.39 percent and 2.79 percent, the People's Bank of China said on Saturday.

    At the same time, the public housing fund (PHF) mortgage rates for individual house buyers were raised by 0.18 basis points. According to the Website of the Ministry of Construction, the annual interest rate for PHF loans with a maturity of five years or less has risen to 4.32 percent. PHF mortgage loans with a maturity of more than five years has been set at an annual interest rate of 4.77 percent.

    "Obviously, house buying costs have risen and that could help curb domestic demand for new apartments in some degree," Zhai Baohui, an official with the policy research center at the Ministry of Construction, told the property channel on Sina.com.

    "However, it will take time to get a clear picture about its exact impact on the country's real estate market."

    Zhai said the situation could vary for individual home buyers.

    "For capital affluent high-end apartment buyers, influence could almost be neglected as the 0.27 basis points' rate increase was rather small," Zhai said. "At the same time, demand by common wage earners, which account for the majority of the country's apartment buyers, will likely decrease as some of them might choose to postpone their apartment purchase due to the cost increase."

    Industry analysts see the recent rate increase as just another move aimed at curbing the country's over-heated property market, which has seen prices almost triple since 1998. That's when China started nationwide urban housing reform.

    Cong Cheng, an official with the local public housing fund management center, shared some of Zhai's views and said he believed the recent interest rate increase would have more of a psychological impact on people's buying sentiment.

    "Increases in both the benchmark loan rates and PHF mortgage rates will have polarized effects over potential apartment buyers," Cong said during a phone interview yesterday. "People who can afford new apartments but are currently waiting are prone to feel pressured. Some of them, anticipating further increases by the central bank, might accelerate their pace to seal a deal.