Residential Mortgage Survey Results for July 2003

Press Releases

28 Aug 2003

Residential Mortgage Survey Results for July 2003

Activity in residential mortgage loans increased further in July, according to the HKMA's monthly survey of residential mortgage lending.

The value of new loans drawn down during the month rose significantly by 27.3% to HK$6.7 billion. In line with an increase in loan applications, new approvals also increased markedly by 30.0% to a ten-month high of HK$8.8 billion. The increase was mainly attributable to the strong growth in approvals for primary market transactions, which rose by 44.0% in value terms and 62.3% in number terms.

The proportion of new approvals priced at more than 2% below the best lending rate was 92.4%, similar to that in June.

The outstanding amount of mortgage loans declined by another 0.3% to HK$522.2 billion.

The mortgage delinquency ratio improved to 1.10% from 1.12% but the rescheduled loan ratio increased to 0.55% from 0.53%. The combined ratio thus remained unchanged at 1.65%.

"The survey results reflect the continued pick-up in property market activity, following SARS," said Mr David Carse, Deputy Chief Executive of the HKMA. "It is also encouraging that the combined ratio of delinquent and rescheduled loans remained stable."

New loans drawn down for purchasing properties in Mainland China increased by a quarter to HK$119 million. The amount of outstanding loans at end-July was HK$6.2 billion.

For further enquiries, please contact:

Jasmin Fung, Manager (Press), at 2878 8246 or
Thomas Chan, Senior Manager (Press), at 2878 1480

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
28 August 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.
  9. Loans written off over the past 12 months as a percentage of the average outstanding loans is calculated as: total value of loans written off during the past 12-month period as a percentage of the average outstanding loan value over the 12-month period [i.e. (opening + closing) / 2].
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Last revision date : 28 August 2003