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According to the 23 authorised institutions (AIs) which participate in the HKMA's monthly survey of residential mortgage lending, new mortgage loans drawn down during April decreased by 11.4% to HK$10.8 billion.
New loans approved fell by 11.3% to HK$14.5 billion. The decline was mainly led by secondary market transactions which fell by HK$1.7 billion (-16.5%). Primary market transactions fell by HK$0.1 billion (-4.3%) while refinancing loans were little changed. The number of new applications also decreased, by 12.9%.
The proportion of new loans approved at more than 2.5% below the best lending rate increased to 76.0% from 73.2% in March, while the proportion of new approvals priced with reference to rates other than the best lending rate or fixed rates decreased to 20.6% from 22.4% over the same period.
The outstanding value of mortgage loans increased by 0.1% to HK$531.0 billion.
The mortgage delinquency ratio was unchanged at 0.17%. Together with an unchanged rescheduled loan ratio of 0.26%, the combined ratio was stable at 0.43%.
For further enquiries, please contact:
Peggy Lo, Manager (Press), at 2878 1687 or
Thomas Chan, Senior Manager (Press), at 2878 1480
Ends/Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Issued at HKT 16:38
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