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According to the 23 authorised institutions (AIs) which participate in the HKMA's monthly survey of residential mortgage lending, new mortgage loans drawn down during September increased by 15.2% to HK$9.7 billion.
New loans approved by the AIs decreased by 9.1% to HK$11.5 billion. The decline was due to decreases of HK$1.0 billion (-14.9%) in approvals for secondary market transactions and of HK$0.4 billion (-16.2%) in approvals for refinancing. These decreases more than offset the HK$0.3 billion (+11.1%) increase in approvals for primary market transactions. The number of new applications also decreased, by 10.4%.
The proportion of new loans approved at more than 2.5% below the best lending rate decreased to 55.9% from 58.4% in August. By contrast, the proportion of new approvals priced with reference to rates other than the best lending rate or fixed rates increased to 35.9% from 32.8% in August. The increase was mainly attributable to HIBOR-based loans .
The outstanding value of mortgage loans decreased by 0.1% to HK$526.1 billion.
With the mortgage delinquency ratio and the rescheduled loan ratio remaining unchanged at 0.20% and 0.29% respectively, the combined ratio was steady at 0.49%.
Ends/Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Issued at HKT 16:46
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