New mortgage lending increased after decreasing for three
consecutive months, according to the HKMA's monthly survey of
residential mortgage lending.
New loans drawn down during January increased by 29.8% to HK$7.2
billion, reflecting the growth in loans approved in December.
However, new loans approved in January decreased by 14.6% to HK$6.2
billion, the reduction coming almost entirely in primary market
transactions.
The proportion of new approvals that were priced at more than 2%
below the best lending rate decreased slightly from 90.9% to
89.4%.
The amount of outstanding mortgage loans remained virtually flat
at HK$533.8 billion.
The mortgage delinquency ratio increased marginally to 1.07%
from 1.06% while the rescheduled loan ratio remained unchanged at
0.46%. The combined ratio thus increased to 1.53% from 1.52%.
While total gross loans for the purchase of properties in
Mainland China were HK$122 million, the amount of outstanding loans
was HK$6.3 billion.
For further enquiries, please contact:
Sylvia Yip, Manager (Press), at 2878 1687 or
Thomas Chan, Senior Manager (Press), at 2878 1480
Hong Kong Monetary Authority
27 February 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.