Here's how CCB's mortgage business races ahead of peers

It commanded 22% of the residential mortgage market in 2012.

According to Bernstein Research, as the earliest bank to provide personal residential mortgages in China, CCB has the biggest share in China’s mortgage market.

By 2012, CCB commanded 22% of the residential mortgage market, higher than the other 3 big banks which have market shares ranging from 15% to 19%.

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Its retail banking division is more geared towards developing the mortgage business than the other banks. At year-end 2012, mortgage loans accounted for 76% of CCB's retail loans while they only accounted for 50%-70% at other banks.

As a result of CCB's efforts to expand its mortgage loan book over the past years, its mortgage market share exceeds its overall loan market share by a greater margin today, relative to 5 years ago (19% vs. 16% in 2007; 22% vs. 15% in 2012).

CCB has established a leading position in the mortgage market for the following two primary reasons. First, CCB, unlike the other big 3 banks, has focused on strengthening its brand awareness to its targeted
customer base.

For example, it frequently publicizes the awards it receives in mortgage business to keep its  name in front of its targeted market.

The slogans of its mortgage business "go to China Construction Bank
if you want to purchase a home" is so frequently cited in China that CCB is perceived as a well-respected
"go-to" bank for mortgage loan applicants.

Second, as the first bank to provide provident housing fund service, China Construction Bank commands 50-60% of the housing provident fund loan (HPF loan) market.

According to the bank, it is oftentimes the only lending bank designated by the provident housing fund centers in various cities. In many cases, competing banks did not enter into this market until 5 years ago, giving CCB the important first-mover
advantage.

As the entrusted bank, CCB acts on behalf of provident fund centers by lending funds to home purchasers which allows the bank to generate commission fee income from such a business.

By 2012, provident housing loans stood at RMB 781 billion at CCB, all of which are off-balance sheet exposures for the bank as the bank takes no credit risk on these loans (the credit risk is held by the HPF).

This is equivalent to 50-60% market share of the total provident housing loan market. In China, for home purchasers who have provident housing funds and need to apply for mortgage loans under RMB 1million, a HPF loan is a preferred choice over a bank-offered mortgage loan due to its subsidized interest rate and lower down payment requirement.