New mortgage lending dropped in January according to the HKMA's
monthly survey on residential mortgage lending.
The amount of gross new loans made in January decreased by 35.3%
to $8.6 billion from $13.2 billion in December (compared with the
28.6% increase in December). The average size of new loans
decreased to $1.42 million in January from $1.51 million in
December.
New loans approved during the month fell by 15.5% to $9.4
billion ($11.2 billion in December). Loans approved during the
month but not yet drawn also decreased by 1.6% from $7.3 billion in
December to $7.1 billion in January.
The average loan-to-valuation ratio of new loans approved was
56.3% (56% in December) and the average contractual life was 213
months (215 months in December). 99.7% of these loans were related
to owner-occupied properties.
Reflecting the decline in loan approvals in December and the
subdued market condition in January, the amount of outstanding
mortgage loans increased at a slower rate of 0.37% in January,
compared with 1.25% growth in December. The annualised rate of
growth of outstanding loans in the three months to January
increased to 11% from 10.5% in December. The average change over
the last twelve months decreased to 9.2% from 9.6% in December.
The loan delinquency ratio (measured by the ratio of mortgage
loans overdue for more than 3 months to total outstanding mortgage
loans) rose to 0.96% as at January 1999 (compared with 0.84% in
December).
On the pricing front, mortgage rates eased further with 50.9% of
the new loans granted at the best lending rate plus 0.25% or below
(compared with 33.1% in December). In particular, the portion of
new loans granted at the best lending rate rose sharply to 20.9% in
January from 3% in December.
"The continuing decline in margins in January reflects active
competition for the available business in the primary market," said
Mr. David Carse, Deputy Chief Executive of the HKMA.
Gross loans for the purchase of properties in Mainland China
decreased from $97 million in December to $62 million in January.
The amount of outstanding loans decreased slightly by 1.16% to
$7.56 billion.
* * More Informations about Residential
Mortgage Survey Results
Hong Kong Monetary Authority
26 February 1999
Notes to Annex
1. Residential mortgage loans in the survey refer to loans
(which include refinancing loans) to private individuals for the
purchase of residential properties, including uncompleted flats,
but excluding flats in the Home Ownership Scheme, Private Sector
Participation Scheme and Tenants Purchase Scheme. Mortgage loans to
corporate clients are excluded from the survey.
2. Gross new loans made refer to mortgage loans which are
actually drawn down during the month.
3. New loans approved refer to mortgage loans which are approved
during the month. The loans can either be drawn down in the same
month or in the following months. The loans which are approved but
not yet drawn down are shown under the item "New loans approved
during month but not yet drawn". This figure will have implications
for the amount of gross new loans made in the following months.
4. Mortgage loans are classified as overdue when an instalment
payment is overdue for more than 3 months and remains unpaid at the
last day of the reporting month. The delinquency ratio is the
weighted average of the ratio of the total amount of overdue loans
over the total outstanding mortgage loans.
5. Co-financing schemes refer to those schemes which involve the
provision of top-up loans by the property developer (or other
co-financiers) in addition to the mortgage loans granted by banks.
Only the portion of loans granted by banks are reported in the
survey.
6. Average loan-to-value ratio, average contractual life and
owner-occupied properties are all weighted average figures, which
are weighted by the amount of new loans approved during month by
individual banks.
