Residential Mortgage Survey Results for March 2006

Press Releases

25 Apr 2006

Residential Mortgage Survey Results for March 2006

According to the 23 authorized institutions (AIs) which participate in the HKMA's monthly survey of residential mortgage lending, new mortgage loans drawn down during March were little changed at HK$7.5 billion.

New loans approved by the AIs increased significantly by 63.0% to HK$12.6 billion. The increase was across-the-board in both value and number terms. In value terms, the approvals for refinancing loans recorded a large increase of 162.3% (+HK$1.5 billion), reflecting intense competition in the market. The approvals for primary and secondary market transactions rose by 76.6% (+HK $0.9 billion) and 44.4% (+HK$2.5 billion) respectively. The number of new applications also increased strongly, by 65.0%.

The proportion of new loan approvals priced at more than 2.5% below the best lending rate almost doubled to 57.5% from 30.2% in February, and continued to be the most commonly used interest rate band for new approvals in March.

The outstanding value of mortgage loans fell by 0.5% to HK$528.5 billion.

The mortgage delinquency ratio edged down to 0.19% from 0.20% a month earlier. With the rescheduled loan ratio remaining unchanged at 0.34%, the combined ratio improved to 0.53% from 0.54% in February.

For further enquiries, please contact:
Ying-ying Cheng, Manager (Press), at 2878 1687 or
Hing-Fung Wong, Resource Co-ordinator, at 2878 1802

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
25 April 2006

 

Annex

Latest Press Releases
Last revision date : 25 April 2006