Residential Mortgage Survey Results for February 2005

According to the 24 authorized institutions (AIs) which participate in the HKMA's monthly survey of residential mortgage lending, the number of new mortgage loans drawn down during February decreased by 7.1% although the value of these loans increased by 2.9% to HK$12.8 billion.

New loans approved by the AIs during the month fell by 11.2% to HK$13.1 billion. The fall was due to the decrease in approvals for primary market transactions and refinancings, by 17.8% and 30.7% respectively, which more than offset the 1.5% increase in approvals for secondary market transactions. The number of new applications also decreased, by 15.3%.

The average contractual life of newly approved loans increased further from 238 months in January to 248 months, the longest since mid-1998.

The proportion of new loan approvals priced at more than 2.5% below the best lending rate was more or less unchanged compared with January at 90.2%.

The outstanding value of mortgage loans grew by 0.5% to HK$531.9 billion.

The mortgage delinquency ratio improved further to 0.33% from 0.36% in January. With the rescheduled loan ratio declining slightly to 0.44% from 0.45%, the combined ratio improved to 0.77% compared with 0.81% in January.

For further enquiries, please contact:

Kevin Ip, Manager (Press), at 2878 1687 or
Thomas Chan, Senior Manager (Press), at 2878 1480

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
29 March 2005

Annex

Notes to Annex