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 December 2016.
 
     The number of mortgage applications in December decreased month-on-month by 26% to 10 505.  
 
     Mortgage loans approved in December decreased by 15.7% compared with November to HK$32.5 billion.  Among these, mortgage loans financing primary market transactions decreased by 10.5% to HK$8.2 billion and those financing secondary market transactions decreased by 22% to HK$15.1 billion.  Mortgage loans for refinancing decreased by 8.1% to HK$9.1 billion. 
 
     Mortgage loans drawn down during December increased by 11.7% compared with November to HK$29.6 billion. 
 
     The ratio of new mortgage loans priced with reference to HIBOR decreased from 95.1% in November to 94.9% in December. The ratio of new mortgage loans priced with reference to best lending rates increased from 1.9% in November to 2.5% in December.
 
     The outstanding value of mortgage loans increased month-on-month by 0.9% to HK$1,118.7 billion at end-December. 
 
     The mortgage delinquency ratio remained unchanged at 0.03% and the rescheduled loan ratio remained unchanged at nearly 0%.

Ends/Thursday, January 26, 2017
Issued at HKT 16:30

NNNN