The amount of gross new mortgage loans made during November 2000 was broadly the same as in the two previous months, after adjusting for special factors, according to the HKMA's monthly survey of residential mortgage lending.
The amount of gross new loans made in November increased by 7.2% to HK$9.6 billion after increasing moderately by 4.2% in October, although this was mainly due to the continued reallocation of mortgage portfolios among authorised institutions rather than a pick-up in underlying demand. The average size of new loans increased to HK$1.42 million from HK$1.39 million in October.
New loans approved during the month declined by 28.0% to HK$7.8 billion compared with a rise of 9.1% in October, with declines in approvals for transactions in both the primary and secondary markets. The share of new loans approved accounted for by refinancing loans rose further to 39.3% from 29.6%, but again this was distorted by the factor mentioned above. Loans approved during the month but not yet drawn decreased by 39.2% to HK$4.6 billion from HK$7.6 billion in October.
The average loan-to-value ratio of new loans approved increased to 62.4% from 61.4% in October. The average contractual life shortened to 204 months from 207 months in October. 99.1% of loans were related to owner-occupied properties.
On the pricing front, loans granted at below the best lending rate for the whole term of the mortgage accounted for 90.5% of new loans approved, compared with 90.8% in October. Loans granted at more than 2% below the best lending rate represented 60.6% of new loans approved, compared with 64.6%.
The amount of outstanding mortgage loans continued to grow, by 0.4% in November. The 3-month moving average growth rate (annualised) of outstanding loans decreased to 1.4% from 1.9% in the 3 months to October, but the 12-month growth rate increased to 1.3% from 0.8%.
The loan delinquency ratio (measured by the ratio of mortgage loans overdue for more than 3 months to total outstanding mortgage loans) remained unchanged at 1.31% in November.
Gross loans made for the purchase of properties in Mainland China decreased to HK$45 million from HK$79 million in October. The amount of outstanding loans decreased further by HK$82 million to HK$6.1 billion in November.
For further enquiries, please contact:
Caitlin Wong, Manager (Press), at 2878 1687 or
Thomas Chan, Senior Manager (Press), at 2878 1480
Hong Kong Monetary Authority
28 December 2000
Annex
Notes to Annex
- 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.
- Gross new loans made refer to mortgage loans which are actually drawn down during the month.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
