Residential Mortgage Survey Results for October 2006

According to the 23 authorized institutions (AIs) which participate in the HKMA's monthly survey of residential mortgage lending, new mortgage loans drawn down during October were little changed at HK$9.7 billion, a decline of 0.5% compared to the previous month.

New loans approved increased by 2.0% to HK$11.8 billion. The increase was due to rises of HK$0.2 billion (+2.7%) in approvals for secondary market transactions and of HK$0.4 billion (+17.7%) in approvals for refinancing. These increases more than offset the HK$0.3 billion (-10.5%) decrease in approvals for primary market transactions. The number of new applications also increased, by 7.4%.

The proportion of new loans approved at more than 2.5% below the best lending rate increased to 58.1% from 55.9% in September, while the proportion of new approvals priced with reference to rates other than the best lending rate or fixed rates decreased to 34.8% from 35.9% a month earlier.

The outstanding value of mortgage loans was unchanged at HK$526.0 billion.

The mortgage delinquency ratio edged up to 0.21% after remaining at 0.20% for five consecutive months. With the rescheduled loan ratio edging down to 0.28%, the combined ratio was steady at 0.49%.

Annex

For further enquiries, please contact:
Sara Yip, Manager (Press), at 2878 8246 or
Ying-ying Cheng, Manager (Press), at 2878 1687

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
24 November 2006