Residential Mortgage Survey Results for September 2004

The 24 authorized institutions which participate in the HKMA's monthly survey of residential mortgage lending reported an increase of 22.8% in new loans drawn down during September to HK$11.3 billion.

New loans approved by the institutions during September also rose, by 7.4% to HK$12.5 billion. The increase was due to the 26.1% (HK$1.4 billion) increase in approvals for secondary market transactions, which more than offset the declines in both approvals for primary market transactions (-3.6% or HK$0.1 billion) and refinancing loans (-11.3% or HK$0.4 billion). The number of new loan applications rose for the second consecutive month, by 8.1%.

The proportion of new loan approvals priced at more than 2.5% below the best lending rate increased to 73.7% from 66.1% in August, while that for fixed rate mortgages contracted to 10.2% from 15.4% in August.

The outstanding amount of mortgage loans edged up to HK$523.6 billion.

The mortgage delinquency ratio improved further to 0.47% from 0.50% in August. With the rescheduled loan ratio remaining unchanged at 0.50%, the combined ratio improved to 0.97% from 1.00%.

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
25 October 2004

Annex

Notes to Annex