The value of new residential mortgage loans drawn down during June rose 24.5 percent to 12.5 billion HK dollars (1.6 billion U.S. dollars) but new loans approved fell 6.4 percent to 12.9 billion HK dollars (1.65 billion U.S. dollars), Hong Kong Monetary Authority said Tuesday.

The drop was due to falls of 907 million HK dollars (116.3 million U.S. dollars) in approvals for secondary market transactions and of 21 million HK dollars (2.69 million U.S. dollars) in approvals for primary market transactions, which more than offset the 53 million HK dollars (6.79 million U.S. dollars) rise in approvals for refinancing. The number of new applications also fell 15.5 percent.

The most commonly used interest rate band for new approvals in June continued to be more than 2.5 percent below the best lending rate. It was used in 70.4 percent of new approvals in June compared with 65.3 percent in May.

The outstanding value of mortgage loans rose 0.3 percent to 527. 3 billion HK dollars (67.6 billion U.S. dollars).

The mortgage delinquency ratio was unchanged at 0.2 percent. With the rescheduled loan ratio decreasing to 0.31 percent, the combined ratio improved to 0.52 percent from 0.53 percent in May.

Source: Xinhua