Residential Mortgage Survey Results for July 2012
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The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:

     The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced the results of the residential mortgage survey for July 2012.

     Mortgage loans drawn down during July decreased by 20% compared with June to HK$16.1 billion.

     Mortgage loans approved in July decreased by 8.1% compared with June to HK$19.5 billion.  Among these, mortgage loans financing primary market transactions increased by 2.1% to HK$4.3 billion and those financing secondary market transactions decreased by 9.9% to HK$12.7 billion.  Mortgage loans for refinancing decreased by 13.8% to HK$2.5 billion.

     The number of applications in July increased by 4% month-on-month to 10,640.

     In July, 93.4% of mortgage loans were priced with reference to best lending rates, similar to that in June. The majority of mortgage loans in July were priced within the range of 2% and 2.25%. 4.5% of mortgage loans were priced with reference to HIBOR in July, similar to that in June.

     The outstanding value of mortgage loans increased month-on-month by 0.6% to HK$828.2 billion at end-July.

     In July, the mortgage delinquency ratio remained unchanged at 0.01% and the rescheduled loan ratio remained unchanged at 0.01%.

Ends/Monday, August 27, 2012
Issued at HKT 17:27

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