New mortgage lending increased in June, according to the HKMA's
monthly survey of residential mortgage lending.
Reflecting the increase in loan approvals in May, the amount of
gross new loans made in June increased by 15.1% to HK$10.1 billion.
The average size of new loans decreased further to HK$1.26 million
from HK$1.28 million in May.
After increasing in May, new loans approved during June
continued to increase, albeit moderately by 3.9% to HK$11.6
billion. New approvals for transactions in the primary market grew
by 35.1% to account for 35.8% of the total new loans approved. In
contrast, new approvals for transactions in the secondary market
and refinancing loans fell, and accounted for 42.4% and 21.8% of
the total new loans approved respectively, compared with 44.2% and
27.5% in May. Loans approved during June but not yet drawn edged
down by 0.8% to HK$7.8 billion.
The average loan-to-value ratio of new loans approved rose
slightly to 63.0% from 61.8% in May. The average contractual life
lengthened to 216 months from 209 months. 99.0% of loans were
related to owner-occupied properties.
On the pricing front, 79.0% of new loans approved were priced at
more than 2% below the best lending rate, up further from 73.7% in
May. New loans approved at more than 2.25% below the best lending
rate also increased, to 52.8% from 49.1% in May.
The amount of outstanding mortgage loans was more or less flat,
registering a marginal decline of 0.1% in June.
The loan delinquency ratio (measured by the ratio of mortgage
loans overdue for more than 3 months to total outstanding mortgage
loans) decreased for the second consecutive month to 1.35% from
1.42% in May. This was due partly to increased write-offs made by
some banks at the half-year and partly to increased repayments on
loans overdue.
"While it is too soon to say that a revival is underway, the
series of interest rate cuts appears to be having some positive
effect on banks' mortgage loan portfolios," said Mr David Carse,
Deputy Chief Executive of the HKMA. "New lending has been picking
up a little and there have also been signs of improvement in the
delinquency ratio."
Gross loans made for the purchase of properties in Mainland
China decreased to HK$22 million from HK$26 million in May. The
amount of outstanding loans decreased further by HK$158 million to
HK$6.3 billion in June.
For further enquiries, please contact:
Jasmin Fung, Manager (Press), at 2878 8246 or
Thomas Chan, Senior Manager (Press), at 2878 1480
Hong Kong Monetary Authority
30 July 2001
Annex
Notes to Annex
- The Residential Mortgage Survey is a
continuous monthly survey covering 38 authorized institutions in
the banking industry.
- Residential mortgage loans in this survey are
loans (including 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.
