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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 April 2015.
The number of mortgage applications in April decreased month-on-month by 4.1% to 10,007.
Mortgage loans approved in April decreased by 18.9% compared with March to HK$22.8 billion. Among these, mortgage loans financing primary market transactions decreased by 11.5% to HK$6.1 billion and those financing secondary market transactions decreased by 22.3% to HK$12.1 billion. Mortgage loans for refinancing decreased by 18.4% to HK$4.6 billion.
Mortgage loans drawn down during April decreased by 29.4% compared with March to HK$20.6 billion.
New mortgage loans priced with reference to best lending rates increased from 12.5% in March to 13.1% in April with majority priced within the range of 2% and 2.25%. New mortgage loans priced with reference to HIBOR decreased from 85.5% in March to 84.8% in April.
The outstanding value of mortgage loans increased month-on-month by 0.7% to HK$1,018.7 billion at end-April.
The mortgage delinquency ratio remained unchanged at 0.03% and the rescheduled loan ratio remained unchanged at nearly 0%.
Ends/Friday, May 29, 2015
Issued at HKT 17:39
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