Residential Mortgage Survey Results for December 2005

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 December decreased by 3.4% to HK$7.5 billion.

New loans approved by the AIs fell further by 12.0% to HK$7.7 billion. The decline was across-the- board in both value and number terms. In value terms, new approvals for refinancing loans recorded the largest decrease (-25.6%), followed by primary market transactions (-14.0%) and secondary market transactions (-8.4%). The number of new applications also fell, by 9.5%.

The proportion of new loan approvals priced at more than 2.25% and up to 2.5% below the best lending rate decreased slightly to 38.3% from 39.0% in November, and continued to be the most commonly used interest rate band for new approvals in December.

The outstanding value of mortgage loans decreased by 0.4% to HK$533.1 billion.

The mortgage delinquency ratio edged up to 0.19% from 0.18% a month earlier. With the rescheduled loan ratio remaining unchanged at 0.35%, the combined ratio increased to 0.54% from 0.53% in November, the first rise since June 2003.

For further enquiries, please contact:
Jasmin Fung, Manager (Press),                 at 2878 8246 or 
Hing-Fung Wong, Resource Co-ordinator, at 2878 1802

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
25 January 2006

Annex

Notes to Annex