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The following is issued on behalf of Hong Kong Monetary Authority:
According to the 23 authorised institutions (AIs) which participate in the HKMA's monthly survey of residential mortgage lending, new mortgage loans drawn down during September decreased by 7.2% to HK$15.0 billion.
New loans approved fell by 21.9% to HK$15.1 billion. The decline was due to decreases in approvals for all types of property transaction. Approvals for primary market transactions decreased by HK$0.8 billion or 21.0%, secondary market transactions by HK$2.8 billion or 22.5%, and refinancing loans by HK$0.6 billion or 20.3%. The number of new applications also decreased by 25.4%.
The proportion of new loans approved at more than 2.5% below the best lending rate decreased to 92.5% from 93.0% in August.
The outstanding value of mortgage loans increased by 0.6% to HK$545.8 billion.
The mortgage delinquency ratio and rescheduled loan ratio were stable at 0.13% and 0.23% respectively in September. The combined ratio improved to a record low of 0.35%*.
* Not the sum of the two ratios, due to rounding.
For further enquiries, please contact:
Thomas Chan, Senior Manager (Press), at 2878 1480 or
Peggy Lo, Manager (Press), at 2878 1687
Ends/Friday, October 26, 2007
Issued at HKT 16:40
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