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According to the 23 authorized institutions (AIs) which participate in the HKMA's monthly survey of residential mortgage lending, new mortgage loans drawn down during December increased by 32.7% to HK$14.0 billion, the highest level in 18 months.
New loans approved, however, decreased by 14.9% to HK$13.3 billion. Decreases were seen in all types of market transactions. In value terms, primary market transactions decreased by HK$0.7 billion (-15.6%), secondary market transactions by HK$0.7 billion (-9.0%) and refinancing loans by HK$0.9 billion (-26.0%). The number of new applications decreased by 22.2%.
The proportion of new loans approved at more than 2.5% below the best lending rate increased to 61.0% from 54.8% in November, while the proportion of new approvals priced with reference to rates other than the best lending rate or fixed rates decreased to 34.2% from 40.3% over the same period.
The outstanding value of mortgage loans rose by 0.6% to HK$529.4 billion.
The mortgage delinquency ratio edged up to 0.20% from 0.19% in November. With the rescheduled loan ratio decreasing to 0.26% from 0.28%, the combined ratio improved to 0.46% from 0.47% a month earlier.
For further enquiries, please contact:
Hing-fung Wong, Officer (Press), at 2878 1802 or
Thomas Chan, Senior Manager (Press), at 2878 1480
Ends/Thursday, January 25, 2007
Issued at HKT 16:30
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