Hong Kong’s approved home loans drop 6.3pc in August

The amount of new mortgage loans approved in Hong Kong fell by 6.3 percent month-on-month in August to HK$28.7 billion, as developers accelerated the sale of new projects at market prices.

According to data from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, mortgage loans for primary market transactions decreased by 0.7 percent, while those for secondary market transactions saw a sharper decline of 11.9 percent.

New applications for residential mortgages also dropped by 6.7 percent to 8,405 cases.

In contrast, the amount of mortgages newly drawn down during the month rose by 4.5 percent to HK$19 billion.

The HKMA data also revealed that Hong Kong Interbank Offered Rate-linked mortgages accounted for 94.4 percent of newly approved loans, a decrease of 1.3 percentage points from the previous month. 

Mortgages linked to the best lending rate saw a slight increase, making up 1.3 percent of new approvals.

The total volume of outstanding mortgage loans grew marginally by 0.1 percent in August. The mortgage delinquency ratio remained low at 0.13 percent, and the ratio of rescheduled loans stayed close to zero.