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The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced the results of the residential mortgage survey for May 2016.
The number of mortgage applications in May increased month-on-month by 13% to 9,961.
Mortgage loans approved in May increased by 16.5% compared with April to HK$23 billion. Among these, mortgage loans financing primary market transactions increased by 33.5% to HK$5 billion and those financing secondary market transactions increased by 12.2% to HK$12.4 billion. Mortgage loans for refinancing increased by 13.3% to HK$5.6 billion.
Mortgage loans drawn down during May increased by 45.8% compared with April to HK$15.3 billion.
The ratio of new mortgage loans priced with reference to best lending rates decreased from 7.5% in April to 6.9% in May, with the majority priced within the range of 2% and 2.25%. The ratio of new mortgage loans priced with reference to HIBOR increased from 84.2% in April to 85.8% in May. The ratio of mortgage loans priced at fixed rates decreased from 6.2% in April to 5.3% in May.
The outstanding value of mortgage loans increased month-on-month by 0.2% to HK$1,081 billion at end-May.
The mortgage delinquency ratio remained unchanged at 0.04% and the rescheduled loan ratio remained unchanged at nearly 0%.
Ends/Thursday, June 30, 2016
Issued at HKT 16:40
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