Residential Mortgage Survey Results for May 2003

Press Releases

26 Jun 2003

Residential Mortgage Survey Results for May 2003

New mortgage lending decreased in May, according to the HKMA's monthly survey of residential mortgage lending.

The value of new loans drawn down during the month fell by 20.5% to HK$5.1 billion. The value of new approvals continued to decrease but at a slower rate of 8.0% to HK$5.4 billion. The number of applications for new loans was, however, up by 3.5%.

The proportion of new approvals priced at more than 2% below the best lending rate edged up to 92.1% from 91.8%.

The amount outstanding of mortgage loans declined by 0.4% to HK$526.1 billion.

The mortgage delinquency ratio increased to 1.16% from 1.14% and the rescheduled loan ratio to 0.48% from 0.46%. The combined ratio thus increased to 1.64% from 1.60%.

New loans drawn down for purchasing properties in Mainland China decreased by 23.1% to HK$109 million. The amount of outstanding loans at end-May was HK$6.3 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
26 June 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 : 26 June 2003