HK new mortgage loans fall 12.1% in April

Hong Kong’s new mortgage loans slipped 12.1 percent to HK$26.9 billion (S$4.3 billion) in April from the previous month, according to data from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA).

The latest figures also showed that the value of new mortgage loans approved in April declined to HK$27.6 billion, down 36.7 percent from a month earlier.

Mortgage approvals for new properties in April fell 22.1 percent (HK$1.3 billion) from March, while loan demand for mortgages on existing properties dropped by 38.8 percent (HK$11 billion).

Approvals for refinancing loans declined 39.2 percent (HK$3.7 billion) from March.

HKMA revealed that the number of new mortgage applications fell 36.2 percent to 14,782, compared with 23,153 in the previous month.

The outstanding value of mortgage loans increased 1.1 percent to HK$770.2 billion.

The mortgage delinquency ratio also rose from 0.01 percent in March to 0.02 percent in April, while the re-scheduled loan ratio remained at 0.03 percent.

In addition, the proportion of new mortgage loans priced with reference to the Hong Kong interbank offered rates dropped from 91.7 percent in March to 89.8 percent in April. However, new mortgage loans approved in April priced with reference to the best lending rates grew to 8.7 percent from 7.4 percent in the previous month.

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