The mortgage market was subdued in April, according to the
HKMA's monthly survey of residential mortgage lending.
After increasing in March, new loans approved during April
decreased by 26.9% to HK$7.8 billion. The decrease was driven
largely by a 39% reduction in approvals for transactions in the
primary market, which accounted for 28.2% of approvals. Loans
approved during the month but not yet drawn also decreased by 31.8%
to HK$5.3 billion.
The amount of gross new loans actually advanced in April rose
moderately by 6.2% to HK$7.8 billion. The average size of new loans
further decreased to HK$1.30 million from HK$1.34 million in
March.
The average loan-to-value ratio of new loans approved rose
slightly to 61.8% from 61.3% in March. The average contractual life
shortened to 204 months from 206 months. 99.2% of loans were
related to owner-occupied properties.
On the pricing front, 73.6% of new loans approved were priced at
more than 2% below the best lending rate, down slightly from 75% in
March. However, 49.9% were priced at more than 2.25% below the best
lending rate, up from 45.9% in March.
The amount of outstanding mortgage loans grew by 0.1% in
April.
The loan delinquency ratio (measured by the ratio of mortgage
loans overdue for more than 3 months to total outstanding mortgage
loans) increased slightly to 1.37% from 1.36% in March.
"The April figures illustrate the current lack of direction in
the demand for new mortgage loans," said Mr David Carse, Deputy
Chief Executive of the HKMA. "While the downward pressure on
lending margins in this environment is understandable, the
combination of this with steadily rising arrears is a trend to
which banks should pay close attention."
Gross loans made for the purchase of properties in Mainland
China decreased to HK$32 million from HK$65 million in March. The
amount of outstanding loans decreased further by HK$95 million to
HK$5.6 billion in April.
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 May 2001
Annex
Notes to Annex
- The Residential Mortgage Survey is a
continuous monthly survey covering 32 authorized institutions in
the banking industry.
- Residential mortgage loans in this survey are
loans (include refinancing loans) to private individuals for the
purchase of residential properties, including uncompleted units,
but other than those properties under the Home Ownership Scheme,
Private Sector Participation Scheme and Tenants Purchase
Scheme.
- Gross new loans made are new mortgage loans
drawn down during the surveyed month.
- New loans approved are mortgage loans approved
during the surveyed month. The loans can either be drawn down in
the same month or in the following months. Loans that are approved
but not yet drawn, which have implications for the amount of gross
new loans made in the following months, are shown under the item
"New loans approved during month but not yet drawn".
- Delinquency ratio is measured by a ratio of
total amount of overdue loans to total outstanding loans.
- Co-financing schemes refer to those schemes
that involve provision of top-up finance by property developer(s)
or other co-financier(s) in addition to mortgage loans advanced by
authorized institutions. For loans associated with co-financing
schemes, only the portion of loans advanced by authorized
institutions is included in this survey.
- Average loan-to-value ratio and average contractual
life are average figures weighted by the amount of new
loans approved during the surveyed month by individual authorized
institutions.
