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The following is issued on behalf of Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA):
According to the 23 authorized institutions (AIs) which participate in the HKMA's monthly survey of residential mortgage lending, new mortgage loans drawn down during July 2008 increased by 3.6% to HK$17.3 billion compared with June 2008.
New loans approved decreased by 16.6% to HK$18.4 billion. The decrease was distributed across all types of property transaction. Approvals for primary market transactions decreased by HK$0.7 billion or 32.9%, secondary market transactions by HK$2.6 billion or 16.1%, and refinancing loans by HK$0.4 billion or 10.2%. The number of new applications decreased by 14.2%.
The proportion of new loans approved at more than 2.5% below the best lending rate decreased to 82.3% from 86.3% in June, as some of the AIs raised their mortgage rates for new mortgage loans.
The outstanding value of mortgage loans increased by 0.7% to HK$594.1 billion.
The mortgage delinquency ratio declined to 0.05% while the rescheduled loan ratio remained unchanged at 0.15%. The combined ratio declined to a record low of 0.20% from 0.21% in June.
For further enquiries, please contact:
Thomas Chan, Senior Manager (Press), at 2878 1480 or
Lilian Goh, Officer (Press), at 2878 8246.
Ends/Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Issued at HKT 16:31
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