Residential mortgage faces testing times

Approved mortgage loans down 11.1% in Sept.

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

Mortgage loans drawn down during September increased by 11.4% compared with August to HK$18.3 billion.

Mortgage loans approved in September decreased by 11.1% compared with August to HK$22.4 billion. Among these, mortgage loans financing primary market transactions decreased by 32.1% to HK$2.8 billion and those financing secondary market transactions decreased by 8.2% to HK$16.7 billion. Mortgage loans for refinancing remained unchanged at HK$3 billion. 

The number of mortgage applications in September decreased by 12.8% month-on-month to 12,227.

New mortgage loans priced with reference to best lending rates increased from 93% in August to 94.4% in September, with majority priced within the range of 2% and 2.25%. New mortgage loans priced with reference to HIBOR decreased from 3.9% in August to 2.9% in September.

The outstanding value of mortgage loans increased month-on-month by 1% to HK$842 billion at end-September.

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