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Residential Mortgage Survey Results for January 1997
Residential mortgage loans for the purchase of properties in Hong Kong continued to grow rapidly in January, 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 rose by 2.6% in January (2.4% in December) to $338.9 billion. The growth rate is higher than the monthly average of 1.7% over the last twelve months.
"The rapid growth in lending reflected the increased activity in both the primary and secondary residential property markets in December and January, Deputy Chief Executive of HKMA, Mr David Carse said. "In particular, the primary market accounted for an increased share of the new lending in January as a large number of new properties were put on to the market."
The annualised rate of growth in lending over the last three months increased to 29.9% from 26.8% in the three-month period to December. The twelve-month average of outstanding loans showed an annualised growth rate of 20.6%, compared with 18.9% in December.
The amount of new loans approved but not yet drawn increased by $2.3 billion (18.3%) to $15 billion in January reflecting the volume of market activity in that month. "In view of lending already in the pipeline, we expect the growth of residential mortgage loans will continue at a rapid rate in February. This was anticipated when we made the recommendation at the end of January for banks to tighten the loan to value ratio for more expensive properties," said Mr Carse.
The amount of residential mortgage loans associated with co-financing schemes accounted for 3.9% of total mortgage lending of the 33 surveyed institutions at end- January. Of the $23.4 billion new loans approved during January, about 83.4% were accounted for by properties aged 15 years or below.
Lending for the purchase of properties in China increased by 3.1% to $6.5 billion in January. Gross loans made in January decreased both in number (to 207 from 310) and in amount (to $132 million from $401 million). New loans approved in January increased both in number (to 263 from 212) and in amount (to $224 million from $157 million).
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