New mortgage lending decreased, according to the HKMA's monthly
survey of residential mortgage lending.
During February, both new loans drawn down and new approvals
decreased by about 45% and 33% to HK$4.0 billion and HK$4.2 billion
respectively. While both primary market and secondary market
approvals were down, the decline in primary market approvals was
somewhat greater.
The proportion of new approvals that were priced at more than 2%
below the best lending rate advanced marginally from 89.4% to
89.9%.
The amount of outstanding mortgage loans shrank by 0.4% to
HK$531.6 billion.
The mortgage delinquency ratio increased to 1.09% from 1.07%
while the rescheduled loan ratio remained unchanged at 0.46%. The
combined ratio thus increased to 1.55% from 1.53%.
While new loans drawn down for purchasing properties in Mainland
China was HK$266 million, the amount of outstanding loans was
HK$6.5 billion.
For further enquiries, please contact:
Jasmin Fung, Manager (Press), at 2878 8246 or
Sylvia Yip, Manager (Press), at 2878 1687
Hong Kong Monetary Authority
27 March 2003
Annex
Residential Mortgage Survey
Notes to Annex
- The Residential Mortgage Survey is a continuous monthly survey
covering 27 authorized institutions in the banking industry.
- Residential mortgage loans (RMLs) in this
survey are loans (including refinancing loans) to private
individuals for the purchase of residential properties, including
uncompleted units, but other than those properties under the Home
Ownership Scheme, the Private Sector Participation Scheme and the
Tenants Purchase Scheme.
- Gross new loans made are new mortgage loans
drawn down during the surveyed month.
- New loans approved are mortgage loans approved
during the surveyed month. The loans can either be drawn down in
the same month or in the following months. Loans that are approved
but not yet drawn, which have implications for the amount of gross
new loans made in the following months, are shown under the item
"New loans approved during month but not yet drawn".
- Delinquency ratio is measured by a ratio of
total amount of overdue loans to total outstanding loans.
- Rescheduled loan ratio is measured by a ratio
of total amount of rescheduled loans to total outstanding
loans.
- Co-financing schemes refer to those schemes
that involve provision of top-up finance by property developer(s)
or other co-financier(s) in addition to mortgage loans advanced by
authorized institutions. For loans associated with co-financing
schemes, only the portion of loans advanced by reporting
institutions is included in this survey.
- Average loan-to-value ratio and average contractual
life for new loans approved during the surveyed month are
average figures weighted by the amount of new loans approved during
the surveyed month by individual reporting institutions.