29th September 2023 – (Hong Kong) The Hong Kong Monetary Authority has released the findings of its residential mortgage survey for August 2023.
In August, the number of mortgage applications saw a 6.6 per cent month-on-month increase, reaching a total of 8,617 applications.
Approved mortgage loans for the same period experienced a significant surge of 26.9 per cent compared to July, amounting to HK$35.6 billion. Among these loans, those financing primary market transactions saw a decline of 19.8 per cent, totalling HK$4.7 billion, while loans for secondary market transactions increased by 7.6 per cent, amounting to HK$14.4 billion. Mortgage loans for refinancing experienced a substantial surge of 86.9 per cent, reaching HK$16.6 billion.
However, mortgage loans drawn down during August decreased by 20.5 per cent compared to July, amounting to HK$20.9 billion.
The proportion of new mortgage loans priced with reference to the Hong Kong Interbank Offered Rate (HIBOR) increased from 94.6 per cent in July to 95.4 per cent in August. Conversely, the proportion of new mortgage loans priced with reference to best lending rates decreased from 1.6 per cent in July to 1.5 per cent in August.
At the end of August, the outstanding value of mortgage loans experienced a slight month-on-month increase of 0.2 per cent, reaching HK$1,854.4 billion.
The mortgage delinquency ratio remained steady at 0.07 per cent, indicating that the percentage of borrowers with late mortgage payments remained unchanged. Similarly, the rescheduled loan ratio remained close to zero per cent, indicating a negligible number of loans requiring rescheduling.