****************************************************
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 January 2012.
New mortgage loans drawn down during January 2012 decreased by 31.6% compared with December 2011 to HK$6.1 billion.
New loans approved in January 2012 fell by 3.8% compared with December 2011 to HK$10 billion. Among these, approvals for primary market transactions increased by 7.6% to HK$3 billion while approvals for secondary market transactions decreased by 7.6% to HK$5.7 billion. Approvals for refinancing fell by 9.8% to HK$1.3 billion. The number of new applications in January 2012 fell month-on-month by 4.9% to 5,745.
New mortgage loans priced with reference to best lending rates increased from 89.8% in December 2011 to 93.6% in January 2012, with majority priced within the range of 2.25% and 2.5%. New mortgage loans priced with reference to HIBOR decreased to 2.9% in January 2012.
The outstanding value of mortgage loans decreased month-on-month by 0.2% to HK$799.8 billion at end-January 2012.
In January 2012, the mortgage delinquency ratio remained unchanged at 0.01% and the rescheduled loan ratio remained unchanged at 0.02%.
Ends/Friday, February 24, 2012
Issued at HKT 16:38
NNNN