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 January 2017.
 
     The number of mortgage applications in January 2017 decreased month-on-month by 5.6% to 9,914.  
 
     Mortgage loans approved in January 2017 decreased by 12.9% compared with December 2016 to HK$28.3 billion. Among these, mortgage loans financing primary market transactions decreased by 16.9 % to HK$6.9 billion and those financing secondary market transactions decreased by 10.9% to HK$13.5 billion. Mortgage loans for refinancing decreased by 12.6% to HK$8 billion. 
 
     Mortgage loans drawn down during January 2017 decreased by 14.9% compared with December 2016 to HK$25.2 billion. 
 
     The ratio of new mortgage loans priced with reference to HIBOR decreased from 94.9% in December 2016 to 93.5% in January 2017. The ratio of new mortgage loans priced with reference to best lending rates increased from 2.5% in December 2016 to 2.6% in January 2017.
 
     The outstanding value of mortgage loans increased month-on-month by 0.7% to HK$1,126.2 billion at end-January 2017. 
 
     The mortgage delinquency ratio remained unchanged at 0.03% and the rescheduled loan ratio remained unchanged at nearly 0%.

Ends/Tuesday, February 28, 2017
Issued at HKT 16:30

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