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The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:
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 March 2008 increased by 12.3% to HK$20.6 billion.
New loans approved increased by 5.2% to HK$24.7 billion. The increase was due to increases of HK$1.4 billion (+89.1%) in approvals for primary market transactions and of HK$1.0 billion (+35.1%) in approvals for refinancing loans, which more than offset the HK$1.2 billion (-6.6%) decrease in approvals for secondary market transactions. The number of new applications increased by 13.8%.
The proportion of new loans approved at more than 2.5% below the best lending rate increased to 90.0% from 89.0% in February, as the proportion of approvals for HIBOR-based loans* decreased.
The outstanding value of mortgage loans increased by 0.9% to HK$574.8 billion.
The mortgage delinquency ratio and rescheduled loan ratio declined to 0.09% and 0.17% respectively, driving the combined ratio to a record low of 0.27%**.
* Mortgage loans priced with reference to Hong Kong Interbank Offered Rates.
** Not the sum of the two ratios, due to rounding.
For further enquiries, please contact:
Thomas Chan, Senior Manager (Press), at 2878 1480 or
Peggy Lo, Manager (Press), at 2878 1687
Ends/Friday, April 25, 2008
Issued at HKT 16:31
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