New loans drawn down fell in September by 23.4% to HK$5.8
billion owing to a decline in new approvals in August, according to
the HKMA's monthly survey of residential mortgage lending.
However, on the back of improved economic conditions and
property market sentiment, property transactions increased, as
reflected by the increase in new loan approvals and applications.
New approvals increased by 26.3% to HK$7.5 billion, attributable to
the respective increase of 37.4% and 25.8% in approvals for primary
and secondary market transactions. The number of applications for
mortgages also increased, by 24.2%.
While the proportion of new approvals priced at more than 2%
below the best lending rate remained unchanged at 92.9%, the
proportion at more than 2.5% below the best lending rate increased
to a new high of 51.3%.
The outstanding amount of mortgage loans reduced by 0.3% to
HK$520.7 billion.
The mortgage delinquency ratio improved for the fourth
consecutive month to 1.05% from 1.09% in August. With the
rescheduled loan ratio remaining unchanged at 0.55%, the combined
ratio improved to 1.60%.
"Benefiting from the improving domestic economy and lower trend
in unemployment rate, the asset quality of banks' mortgage
portfolios improved," commented Mr William Ryback, Deputy Chief
Executive of the HKMA. "With the increase in new approvals in
September, new mortgage lending is expected to increase in
October."
New loans drawn down for purchasing properties in Mainland China
increased to HK$263 million. The amount of outstanding loans at end
of the month was HK$6.4 billion.
For further enquiries, please contact:
Kevin Ip, Manager (Press), at 2878 1687 or
Thomas Chan, Senior Manager (Press), at 2878 1480
Hong Kong Monetary Authority
30 October 2003
Annex
Residential Mortgage Survey
Notes to Annex
- The Residential Mortgage Survey is a continuous monthly survey
covering 25 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.
- 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].