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The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority announced the results of the residential mortgage survey for March 2011.
New mortgage loans drawn down during March increased by 67.5% to HK$30.6 billion compared with February.
New loans approved in March rose by 43.5% to HK$43.5 billion. Approvals for primary market transactions and secondary market transactions increased by HK$3.3 billion (134.8%) and HK$5.7 billion (25.1%) respectively, and those for refinancing transactions increased by HK$4.2 billion or 81.2%. The number of new applications increased by 32.5% to 23,153.
The seasonal and low base effect of February, which is a short month and has the Chinese New Year holidays, may have contributed to the month-on-month increases. In addition, following announcement of increases in mortgage rates by several banks in mid-March, some borrowers might have filed multiple applications with a view to obtaining the most favourable terms. Such rate increases and the announcement of the implementation of the positive mortgage data sharing arrangement with effect from April 1 might also have prompted some borrowers to file their mortgage applications within March.
Around 7% of the new mortgage loans approved in March were priced with reference to best lending rates, with the largest portion in the price range of 2% to less than 2.25%. The proportion of new mortgage loans priced with reference to HIBOR decreased slightly to 91.7% from 92.0% in February.
The outstanding value of mortgage loans increased by 0.8% to HK$761.7 billion.
The mortgage delinquency ratio remained unchanged at 0.01% while the rescheduled loan ratio reduced to a record low of 0.03% in March.
Ends/Friday, April 29, 2011
Issued at HKT 18:12
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