New mortgage lending increased for the fourth consecutive month in June, according to the HKMA's monthly survey of residential mortgage lending.
New loans drawn down during the month increased by 2.3% to HK$10.4 billion. However, new loans approved decreased by 22.9% to HK$9.4 billion. Refinancing loans (including to refinance loans in negative equity) increased by 29.2% to account for 20.4% of new loans approved. The average loan-to-value ratio fell slightly to 65.8%.
84.6% of new loans approved were priced at more than 2% below the best lending rate, down from 90.5% in May.
The amount of outstanding mortgage loans increased by 0.2% to HK$537.6 billion.
The mortgage delinquency ratio decreased from 1.14% to 1.10%, its lowest level since March 1999, while the rescheduled loan ratio increased from 0.44% to 0.46%. The combined ratio has been stable during the first half of this year, averaging around 1.56%.
"One notable feature of the month was the increased proportion of refinancings, including of loans in negative equity," said Mr David Carse, Deputy Chief Executive of the HKMA.
Gross loans for the purchase of properties in Mainland China increased to HK$177 million from HK$92 million in May. The amount of outstanding loans increased by HK$64 million to HK$6.0 billion.
For further enquiries, please contact:
Jasmin Fung, Manager (Press), at 2878 8246 or
Sylvia Yip, Manager (Press), at 2878 1687
Hong Kong Monetary Authority
29 July 2002
Annex
Residential Mortgage Survey
Notes to Annex
- The Residential Mortgage Survey is a continuous monthly survey covering 28 authorized institutions in the banking industry.
- Residential mortgage loans (RMLs) 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, the Private Sector Participation Scheme and the 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 reporting institutions is included in this survey.
- Average loan-to-value ratio and average contractual life for new loans approved during the surveyed month are average figures weighted by the amount of new loans approved during the surveyed month by individual reporting institutions.
