New mortgage lending increased in April, according to the HKMA's monthly survey of residential mortgage lending.
Gross new loans made in April increased by 7.4% to HK$8.8 billion but the average size reduced to HK$1.28 million from HK$1.38 million in March.
New loans approved during April rose markedly by 18.8% to HK$11.1 billion driven largely by growth in approvals for transactions in the primary market, which accounted for 51.2% of total new loans approved. New approvals for transactions in the secondary market also increased, by 10.7%, although their proportion to total new loans approved decreased to 35.3%. Loans approved during April but not yet drawn amounted to HK$7.4 billion.
The average loan-to-value ratio and contractual life of new loans approved rose to 67.1% and 231 months respectively. 99.3% of these new loans relate to owner-occupied properties.
On the pricing front, 89.7% of new loans approved were priced at more than 2% below the best lending rate, up further from 88.0% in March. The proportion of new loans priced at more than 2.5% below the best lending rate also increased, to 16.7% from 15.6% in March.
The amount of outstanding mortgage loans increased by 0.2% as in March.
The delinquency ratio (measured by the ratio of mortgage loans overdue for more than 3 months to total outstanding mortgage loans) decreased to 1.16% from 1.18% at the end of March while the rescheduled loan ratio (measured by the ratio of rescheduled mortgage loans to total outstanding mortgage loans) increased to 0.41% from 0.38%.
"The increase in the rescheduled loan ratio reflects banks' responsiveness to assist borrowers in financial difficulties, thereby taking the pressure off mortgage delinquencies," said Mr David Carse, Deputy Chief Executive of the HKMA.
Gross loans made for the purchase of properties in Mainland China increased to HK$115 million from HK$87 million in March. The amount of outstanding loans decreased by HK$33 million to HK$6.0 billion.
For further enquiries, please contact:
Thomas Chan, Senior Manager (Press), at 2878 1480 or
Sylvia Yip, Manager (Press), at 2878 1687
Hong Kong Monetary Authority
30 May 2002
Annex
Residential Mortgage Survey
Notes to Annex
- The Residential Mortgage Survey is a continuous monthly survey covering 281 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.
- Rescheduled loan ratio is measured by a ratio of total amount of rescheduled 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.
1. The number of reporting institutions reduced to 28 from 29 due to consolidation of reporting institutions. This does not affect the data series in the Annex.
