Intermediary: In July, the number of mortgage registrations for completed buildings in Hong Kong fell by 22.9% month-on-month, hitting a three-month low.

According to data from mReferral Mortgage Brokerage Services' referral research department and the Hong Kong Land Registry, the number of mortgage registrations for completed residential properties in July this year was 6,927, a monthly decrease of 2,056 or 22.9%, marking a decline for two consecutive months and hitting a three-month low. During the same period, the mortgage registrations for pre-sale properties recorded only 441 cases, a sharp drop of 51.8%, also reaching a three-month low. In summary, for the first seven months of this year, mortgage registrations for completed properties totaled 48,634, an annual increase of 14,047 or 40.6%, the highest for the same period in nearly four years; mortgage registrations for pre-sale properties totaled 3,315, a year-on-year decrease of 17%. Cao Deming, Vice President of mReferral Mortgage Brokerage Services, stated that the slowdown in residential transactions in June and July, coupled with a lack of large new developments coming onto the market, has led to a simultaneous decline in mortgage registrations for both completed and pre-sale properties. He expects that as developers recently resume their sales efforts, the market sentiment will gradually recover, and the mortgage market is likely to remain stable. In terms of market share among banks, BOC HONG KONG maintained its top position in the completed property mortgage market in July with a market share of 29.7%, marking 22 consecutive months at the top; HSBC (23.7%), Hang Seng (14.3%), and Standard Chartered (9%) followed closely behind. For pre-sale property mortgages, both HSBC and BOC HONG KONG held the top position with a market share of 23.1%, while Standard Chartered (17.5%) and Hang Seng (15.2%) ranked third and fourth, respectively. The market share of the four major banks in completed property mortgages slightly decreased by 1.4 percentage points to 76.6% in July. Cao Deming pointed out that banks have a positive attitude towards mortgage business, continuing to promote diverse plans and increase incentives to attract customers, while the three major banks have extended the application period for fixed-rate mortgages until the end of this month, with specific properties extendable to September 30. This is expected to continue attracting customers, and the market share of the four major banks is likely to remain at a high level.