Approved mortgage loans down 3.9% to $32.6b in October

Mortgage applications also dipped 3.7% to 9,299.

The value of approved mortgage loans fell 3.9% MoM to $32.6b in October 2019, according to the Monetary Authority (HKMA). The number of applications dipped 3.7% MoM to 9,299 over the same period.

Amongst these, loans that financed primary market transactions climbed 4.6% to $9.1b, whilst those for secondary market transactions rose 14.6% to $12.8b. Mortgage loans for refinancing crashed 24% to $10.6b.

At the same time, mortgage loans that were drawn down slipped 23.5% to $26.3b.

The share of new mortgage loans priced with reference to HIBOR contracted to 84.6% from 86.1% in the previous month, whilst those priced with reference to best lending rates expanded to 12.4% from 11.7%.

The outstanding value of mortgage loans increased 0.5% MoM to $1.42t at end-October. Both the mortgage delinquency ratio and the rescheduled loan ratio remained unchanged at 0.02% and almost 0% respectively.