Residential Mortgage Survey Results for April 2003

Press Releases

29 May 2003

Residential Mortgage Survey Results for April 2003

New mortgage lending increased in April, according to the HKMA's monthly survey of residential mortgage lending. But new approvals and new applications for loans were lower.

The value of new loans drawn down during the month rose by 23.7% to HK$6.3 billion. However, the value of new approvals decreased by 14.8% to HK$5.9 billion. The number of applications for new loans was down by 23.6%.

The proportion of new approvals that were priced at more than 2% below the best lending rate rose to 91.8% from 91.5%.

The amount outstanding of mortgage loans declined by 0.1% to HK$528.2 billion.

The mortgage delinquency ratio increased slightly to 1.14% from 1.11%, while the rescheduled loan ratio remained unchanged at 0.46%. The combined ratio thus increased to 1.60% from 1.57%.

"The mortgage delinquency ratio has been on a slow rise over the past few months," said Mr David Carse, Deputy Chief Executive of the HKMA. "While a figure of just over 1% is not too alarming in itself, and the recent increase is not surprising given the current economic environment, this is something that will need to be watched closely."

New loans drawn down for purchasing properties in Mainland China decreased by 3.6% to HK$142 million. The amount of outstanding loans at end-April was steady at HK$6.4 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
29 May 2003

Annex

Residential Mortgage Survey

Notes to Annex

  1. The Residential Mortgage Survey is a continuous monthly survey covering 27 authorized institutions in the banking industry.
  2. 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.
  3. Gross new loans made are new mortgage loans drawn down during the surveyed month.
  4. 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".
  5. Delinquency ratio is measured by a ratio of total amount of overdue loans to total outstanding loans.
  6. Rescheduled loan ratio is measured by a ratio of total amount of rescheduled loans to total outstanding loans.
  7. 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.
  8. 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.
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Last revision date : 29 May 2003