*****************************************************
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 December 2015.
The number of mortgage applications in December increased month-on-month by 0.3% to 6,593.
Mortgage loans approved in December increased by 3.1% compared with November to HK$15.9 billion. Among these, mortgage loans financing primary market transactions increased by 24.1% to HK$4.9 billion and those financing secondary market transactions increased by 0.3% to HK$6.8 billion. Mortgage loans for refinancing decreased by 10.8% to HK$4.1 billion.
Mortgage loans drawn down during December decreased by 17.6% compared with November to HK$12.9 billion.
The ratio of new mortgage loans priced with reference to best lending rates decreased from 13.4% in November to 11.1% in December, with the majority priced within the range of 2% and 2.25%. The ratio of new mortgage loans priced with reference to HIBOR decreased from 80.3% in November to 79.7% in December. The ratio of mortgage loans priced at fixed rates increased from 4.9% in November to 7.9% in December.
The outstanding value of mortgage loans increased month-on-month by 0.1% to HK$1,073.6 billion at end-December.
The mortgage delinquency ratio remained unchanged at 0.03% and the rescheduled loan ratio remained unchanged at nearly 0%.
Ends/Friday, January 29, 2016
Issued at HKT 18:08
NNNN
