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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 February decreased by 30.5% to HK$7.8 billion, the lowest level since April 2006.
New loans approved fell by 17.0% to HK$10.4 billion. Primary market transactions fell by HK$0.5 billion (-21.7%), secondary market transactions by HK$1.0 billion (-12.7%) and refinancing loans by HK$0.6 billion (-26.8%). The number of new applications also decreased, by 20.8%.
The proportion of new loans approved at more than 2.5% below the best lending rate increased to 62.1% from 61.6% in January, while the proportion of new approvals priced with reference to rates other than the best lending rate or fixed rates decreased to 32.9% from 33.4% over the same period.
The outstanding value of mortgage loans fell by 0.1% to HK$529.4 billion.
The mortgage delinquency ratio was stable at 0.18% in February. Although the rescheduled loan ratio rose to 0.27% from 0.26% in January, the combined ratio was little changed at 0.45%.
For further enquiries, please contact:
Sara Yip, Manager (Press), at 2878 8246 or
Hing-fung Wong, Officer (Press), at 2878 1802
Ends/Friday, March 23, 2007
Issued at HKT 15:56
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