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 June rose by 24.5% to HK$12.5 billion.
New loans approved by the AIs decreased by 6.4% to HK$12.9 billion. The decline was due to decreases of HK$907 million (-11.4%) in approvals for secondary market transactions and of HK$21 million (-0.6%) in approvals for primary market transactions, which more than offset the HK$53 million (+2.1%) increase in approvals for refinancing. The number of new applications also decreased, by 15.5%.
The most commonly used interest rate band for new approvals in June continued to be more than 2.5% below the best lending rate. It was used in 70.4% of new approvals in June compared with 65.3% in May.
The outstanding value of mortgage loans increased by 0.3% to HK$527.3 billion.
The mortgage delinquency ratio was unchanged at 0.20%. With the rescheduled loan ratio decreasing to 0.31%, the combined ratio improved to 0.52%1 from 0.53% in May.
For further enquiries, please contact:
Sara Yip, Manager (Press), at 2878 8246 or
Ying-ying Cheng, Manager (Press), at 2878 1687
Hong Kong Monetary Authority
25 July 2006