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The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:
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 December increased by 14.3% to HK$21.4 billion.
New loans approved declined by 17.6% to HK$22.8 billion. The decrease was for approvals for all types of property transaction. Approvals for primary market transactions decreased by HK$1.0 billion or 35.1%, secondary market transactions by HK$3.3 billion or 14.9%, and refinancing loans by HK$0.7 billion or 21.4%. The number of new applications also decreased by 22.5%.
The proportion of new loans approved at more than 2.5% below the best lending rate decreased to 87.9% from 90.9% in November, as the proportion of new approvals for HIBOR-based loans* increased.
The outstanding value of mortgage loans increased by 0.6% to HK$557.9 billion.
The mortgage delinquency ratio and rescheduled loan ratio were stable at 0.11% and 0.20% respectively in December. The combined ratio improved to a record low of 0.31%.
*Mortgage loans priced with reference to Hong Kong Interbank Offered Rates.
For further enquiries, please contact:
Thomas Chan, Senior Manager (Press), at 2878 1480 or
Peggy Lo, Manager (Press), at 2878 1687
Ends/Friday, January 25, 2008
Issued at HKT 16:31
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