New mortgage loans in Hong Kong drawn down in February declined 1.5 percent to 17.1 billion HK dollars, while new loan approvals slumped 10.1 percent to 26.6 billion HK dollars, according to the HK Monetary Authority.
The decline in new loans approved was largely due to the reduction of 1.5 billion HK dollars or 49.1 percent in approvals for primary market transactions, as well as the 1.6 billion HK dollars or 7.2 percent in the secondary market transaction approvals.
However, approvals for refinancing loans increased slightly and new mortgage applications fell from 19,157 in January to 16,398.
About 34 percent of the approved new mortgage loans were being priced with the reference to the best lending rates in the month of February, which were in the price range of 2 percent to less than 2.25 percent. The proportion of new mortgage loans priced with reference to the interbank best lending rates was 64.3 percent, up from 62.6 percent in January.
The outstanding value of mortgage loans in Hong Kong also grew 0.8 percent to 650.7 billion HK dollars. And while mortgage delinquency ratio remained at 0.03 percent, the rescheduled loan ration slid to 0. 08 percent in February.