New mortgage loans rise 12.3% in HK

HONG KONG, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong's new mortgage loans drawn down in March rose 12.3 percent to 20.6 billion HK dollars ( 2.65 billion U.S. dollars), while new loans approved grew 5.2 percent to 24.7 billion HK dollars (3.17 billion U.S. dollars), Hong Kong Monetary Authority said here Friday.

According to the 23 authorized institutions that participate in the authority's monthly survey of residential mortgage lending, the rise was due to an increase in approvals for primary market transactions and refinancing loans.

Approvals for primary market transactions and refinancing loans rose 89.1 percent and 35.1 percent, while approvals for secondary market transactions fell 6.6 percent. The number of new applications rose 13.8 percent.

The proportion of new loans approved at more than 2.5 percent below the best lending rate increased to 90 percent from 89 percent in February, as the proportion of approvals for Hong Kong Interbank Offered Rate-based loans decreased.

The mortgage delinquency ratio and rescheduled loan ratio dropped to 0.09 percent and 0.17 percent, driving the combined ratio to a record low of 0.27 percent.