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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 February 2014.
Mortgage loans drawn down during February increased by 9.7% compared with January to HK$12.4 billion.
Mortgage loans approved in February decreased by 9.8% compared with January to HK$15.6 billion. Among these, mortgage loans financing primary market transactions decreased by 3.6% to HK$5.8 billion and those financing secondary market transactions decreased by 16.3% to HK$7.3 billion. Mortgage loans for refinancing also decreased by 2.1% to HK$2.5 billion.
The number of mortgage applications in February decreased by 19.4% month-on-month to 7,198.
New mortgage loans priced with reference to best lending rates decreased from 56.1% in January to 43.7% in February with majority priced within the range of 2% and 2.25%. New mortgage loans priced with reference to HIBOR increased from 41.7% in January to 54.8% in February.
The outstanding value of mortgage loans increased month-on-month by 0.5% to HK$910.7 billion at end-February.
The mortgage delinquency ratio remained unchanged at 0.02% and the rescheduled loan ratio remained unchanged at nearly 0%.
Ends/Thursday, March 27, 2014
Issued at HKT 17:01
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