Hong Kong Monetary Authority: New residential mortgages approved in January decreased by 2.1%

On February 28, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority released the results of the residential mortgage survey for January 2025. The data showed that the amount of new mortgage loans issued in January 2025 decreased by 2.1% compared to December 2024, to 25 billion Hong Kong dollars. Among them, loans issued for first-hand market transactions increased by 15.5% to 10 billion Hong Kong dollars, while loans issued for second-hand market transactions decreased by 11.7% to 12.2 billion Hong Kong dollars. As for loans issued for refinancing transactions, they decreased by 8.8% to 2.9 billion Hong Kong dollars. In addition, the number of new loan applications in January 2025 increased by 3.3% compared to December 2024, to 6,516 cases. The amount of new mortgage loans taken out in January increased by 17.6% compared to December 2024, to 15.6 billion Hong Kong dollars. The proportion of new mortgage loans priced based on the Hong Kong Interbank Offered Rate (HIBOR) increased from 91.3% in December 2024 to 93% in January 2025. The proportion of new mortgage loans priced based on the best available rates decreased from 4.1% in December 2024 to 3.4% in January 2025. The total amount of outstanding mortgage loans in January 2025 increased by 0.1% compared to the previous month, to 1.8729 trillion Hong Kong dollars. The delinquency rate for mortgage loans remained at 0.12%, still at a low level, and the restructured loan ratio remained close to 0%.