Governor to proceed on annual leave
The Governor, the Rt Hon Christopher Patten, will leave Hong Kong tomorrow (Thursday) evening to begin his annual leave with his family. He will be back on September 1.
During his absence, the Financial Secretary, Mr Donald Tsang, will be acting Governor until July 31. The Chief Secretary, Mrs Anson Chan, will be acting Governor from August 1 when she returns to office from leave.
End
Residential mortgage survey results for June
Residential mortgage loans for the purchase of properties in Hong Kong continued to grow at a fast rate in June, according to the results of the latest monthly survey conducted by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA).
The latest figures show that the total amount of outstanding mortgage lending by the 33 institutions in the survey increased by 1.4% to $297.5 billion. The growth rate is slightly higher than the monthly average of 1.3% over the last 12 months.
"The growth of residential mortgage lending in June partly reflected the drawdown of loans associated with refinancing of existing mortgages," said acting Deputy Chief Executive of HKMA, Mr Y K Choi.
The annualised rate of growth in lending over the last three months decreased to 18% from 19% in the three-month period to May. The 12-month average of outstanding loans showed an annualized growth rate of 16.1%, compared with 16.4% in May.
The amount of new loans approved but not yet drawn reduced by $2.8 billion (20.1%) to $11.1 billion in June.
"The undrawn new loans, though reduced, remained at a high level. Together with the sales in the primary residential market in June, we believe that total lending would continue to grow at a fast rate in July," said Mr Choi.