Residential Mortgage Survey Results for March 2005

Press Releases

25 Apr 2005

Residential Mortgage Survey Results for March 2005

According to the 24 authorized institutions (AIs) which participate in the HKMA's monthly survey of residential mortgage lending, new mortgage loans drawn down during March increased by 6.5% to HK$13.6 billion.

New loans approved by the AIs recorded a growth of 44.8% in March, the largest increase since March 2003, to HK$19.0 billion. Within the total value of approvals, loans for secondary market transactions registered the largest increase of 57.0%, followed by 41.7% for refinancing loans. The number of new applications also increased markedly by 63.2%.

The average contractual life of newly approved loans increased further to 250 months from 248 months in February.

The proportion of new loan approvals priced at more than 2.5% below the best lending rate increased to 93.7%.

The outstanding value of mortgage loans grew by 0.3% to HK$533.2 billion.

The mortgage delinquency ratio improved further to 0.29% from 0.33% in February. With the rescheduled loan ratio declining to 0.42%, the combined ratio improved to 0.71% compared with 0.77% in February.

Loans written off during March increased to HK$154 million. The increase was due mainly to the adoption of new accounting standards by banks. Under these standards, and subject to the agreement of their auditors, foreclosed loans that are secured on property are written off and the property is shown under "other assets" in the financial statements.

For further enquiries, please contact:

Jasmin Fung, Manager (Press), at 2878 8246 or
Kevin Ip, Manager (Press), at 2878 1687

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
25 April 2005

Annex

Notes to Annex

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Last revision date : 25 April 2005