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The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced the results of the residential mortgage survey for March 2012.
Mortgage loans drawn down during March increased by 46.8% compared with February to HK$11.2 billion.
Mortgage loans approved in March rose by 95.5% compared with February to HK$28.1 billion. Among these, mortgage loans financing primary market transactions increased by 25.4% to HK$4.1 billion and those financing secondary market transactions increased by 127.1% to HK$21.8 billion. Mortgage loans for refinancing also rose by 45.5% to HK$2.1 billion. The number of applications in March rose month-on-month by 66.1% to 17,419. The figures reflect an increase in residential property transaction volume.
New mortgage loans priced with reference to best lending rates increased slightly from 91.3% in February to 91.9% in March, with majority priced within the range of 2% and 2.25%. New mortgage loans priced with reference to HIBOR increased from 3.4% in February to 5.5% in March.
The outstanding value of mortgage loans increased month-on-month by 0.4% to HK$803.3 billion at end-March.
In March, the mortgage delinquency ratio remained unchanged at 0.01% and the rescheduled loan ratio remained unchanged at 0.02%.
Ends/Friday, April 27, 2012
Issued at HKT 16:31
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