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 October increased by 6.4% to HK$15.9 billion.
New loans approved rose by 52.0% to HK$22.9 billion. The increase was due to increases in approvals for all types of property transaction. Approvals for primary market transactions increased by HK$1.1 billion or 37.4%, secondary market transactions by HK$6.0 billion or 62.1%, and refinancing loans by HK$0.7 billion or 29.9%. The number of new applications also increased by 47.0%.
The proportion of new loans approved at more than 2.5% below the best lending rate increased to 94.0% from 92.5% in September.
The outstanding value of mortgage loans increased by 0.7% to HK$549.5 billion.
The mortgage delinquency ratio and rescheduled loan ratio fell to record lows of 0.12% and 0.21% respectively, driving the combined ratio lower to 0.33%.
For further enquiries, please contact:
Peggy Lo, Manager (Press), at 2878 1687 or
Hing-fung Wong, Officer (Press), at 2878 1802
Hong Kong Monetary Authority
26 November 2007