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The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA):
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 May 2008 decreased by 15.3% to HK$17.2 billion.
New loans approved decreased by 11.4% to HK$21.4 billion. The decrease was distributed across all types of property transaction. Approvals for primary market transactions decreased by HK$1.9 billion or 43.5%, secondary market transactions by HK$0.1 billion or 0.6%, and refinancing loans by HK$0.8 billion or 16.5%. The number of new applications increased by 4.8%.
The proportion of new loans approved at more than 2.5% below the best lending rate slightly increased to 84.8% from 84.7% in April.
The outstanding value of mortgage loans increased by 0.8% to HK$585.6 billion.
The mortgage delinquency ratio and rescheduled loan ratio declined to 0.07% and 0.15% respectively, driving the combined ratio to a record low of 0.22%.
For further enquiries, please contact:
Thomas Chan, Senior Manager (Press), at 2878 1480 or
Peggy Lo, Manager (Press), at 2878 1687
Ends/Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Issued at HKT 19:27
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