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The following is issued on behalf of Hong Kong Monetary Authority:
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 August 2008 decreased by 29.6% to HK$12.2 billion compared with July 2008.
New loans approved decreased by 27.0% to HK$13.5 billion. The decrease was distributed across all types of property transaction. Approvals for primary market transactions decreased by HK$0.5 billion or 37.5%, secondary market transactions by HK$3.6 billion or 26.8%, and refinancing loans by HK$0.8 billion or 23.6%. The number of new applications decreased by 25.9%.
The proportion of new loans approved at more than 2.5% below the best lending rate increased to 82.8% from 82.3% in July.
The outstanding value of mortgage loans increased by 0.2% to HK$595.5 billion.
The mortgage delinquency ratio remained unchanged at 0.05% while the rescheduled loan ratio declined to 0.14%. The combined ratio declined to a record low of 0.19% from 0.20% in July.
For further enquiries, please contact:
Thomas Chan, Senior Manager (Press), at 2878 1480 or
Hing-fung Wong, Manager (Press), at 2878 1802
Ends/Friday, September 26, 2008
Issued at HKT 16:30
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