Hong Kong negative equity mortgages drop to 38,389 in Q4

The number of Hong Kong residential mortgages in negative equity - where the loan is bigger than the value of the home - dropped by 5.7 percent quarter-on-quarter to 38,389 cases in the fourth quarter of 2024, according to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.

“These cases were mainly related to bank staff housing loans or residential mortgage loans under mortgage insurance programme, which generally have a higher loan-to-value ratio,” the authority said.

Total loan value from negative equity residential mortgages fell by 5.98 percent to HK$195.1 billion at end of December 2024, compared to a quarter earlier, while unsecured portions of these loans dropped from HK$15.8 billion to HK$14.5 billion at the end of last quarter.

Despite the drop, the three-month delinquency ratio of residential mortgage loans in negative equity rose slightly to 0.15 percent from 0.13 percent at end of September 2024, but remained at a low level, HKMA said. 

JUNE CHEN