Hong Kong mortgage approvals up 24pc

Mortgage loans financing primary market transactions decreased by 2.3 per cent to HK$5.7 billion (AU$786 million), while those financing secondary market transactions increased by 42 per cent to HK$10.3 billion (AU$1.4 billion).

Mortgage loans for refinancing also increased by 30.7 per cent to HK$3.3 billion (AU$455 million).

Mortgage loans drawn down during March increased by 8.8 per cent compared with February to HK$13.5 billion (AU$1.8 billion).

The number of mortgage applications in March increased month-on-month by 30.8 per cent to 9,416.

New mortgage loans priced with reference to best lending rates decreased from 43.7 per cent in February to 39.7 per cent in March, with a majority priced between 2 per cent and 2.25 per cent.

New mortgage loans priced with reference to HIBOR (the Hong Kong Interbank Offer Rate) increased from 54.8 per cent in February to 58.9 per cent in March.

The outstanding value of mortgage loans increased month-on-month by 0.4 per cent to HK$914.6 billion (AU$126.1 billion) as of March's end.

Meanwhile, the mortgage delinquency rate remained unchanged at 0.02 per cent and the rescheduled loan rate remained unchanged at nearly 0 per cent.