The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:

     The Hong Kong Monetary Authority announced the results of the residential mortgage survey for November 2016 today (December 30).
 
     The number of mortgage applications in November decreased month-on-month by 0.8% to 14,204.  
 
     Mortgage loans approved in November increased by 12.3% compared with October to HK$38.5 billion. Among these, mortgage loans financing primary market transactions increased by 20.3% to HK$9.2 billion and those financing secondary market transactions increased by 3.3% to HK$19.4 billion. Mortgage loans for refinancing increased by 25.9% to HK$9.9 billion. 
 
     Mortgage loans drawn down during November increased by 14.6% compared with October to HK$26.5 billion. 
 
     The ratio of new mortgage loans priced with reference to HIBOR increased from 94.8% in October to 95.1% in November. The ratio of new mortgage loans priced with reference to best lending rates decreased from 2.4% in October to 1.9% in November.

     The outstanding value of mortgage loans increased month-on-month by 0.7% to HK$1,108.9 billion at end-November. 

     The mortgage delinquency ratio decreased to 0.03% and the rescheduled loan ratio remained unchanged at nearly 0%.

Ends/Friday, December 30, 2016
Issued at HKT 17:30

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