According to the 24 authorized institutions (AIs) which participate in the HKMA's monthly survey of residential mortgage lending, new mortgage loans drawn down during October fell further by 7.9%, to HK$7.8 billion.
New loans approved by the AIs decreased by 2.1%, to HK$9.6 billion. The decline was due to a decrease of HK$659 million (-8.7%) in approvals for secondary market transactions that more than offset the increases of HK$444 million (+38.1%) in approvals for primary market transactions and of HK$11 million (+1.0%) in approvals for refinancing. The number of new applications also decreased, by 5.9%.
The proportion of new loan approvals priced at more than 2.25% and up to 2.5% below the best lending rate increased to 33.3% from 27.3% in September, and became the most commonly used interest rate band for new approvals in October. The share of new approvals for fixed rate mortgages also expanded, to 8.4% from 1.9% in September.
The outstanding value of mortgage loans decreased by 0.3% to HK$536.8 billion.
The mortgage delinquency ratio edged up for the first time since June 2003 to 0.19% from 0.18% a month earlier. Nonetheless, with the rescheduled loan ratio declining to 0.35% from 0.36%, the combined ratio was unchanged at 0.54% in October.
For further enquiries, please contact:
Kevin Ip, Manager (Press), at 2878 1687 or
Thomas Chan, Senior Manager (Press), at 2878 1480
Hong Kong Monetary Authority
25 November 2005