August saw $12.7 billion new mortgage loans approved, up 30.6% on July, while new loans drawn down fell 19.1%, to $8.4 billion, the Monetary Authority says.

According to the 23 authorised institutions that partake in the authority's monthly survey of residential mortgage lending, increases were seen in both number and value terms of all types of approvals.

In value terms, primary market transactions surged 62.2% or $1.1 billion, secondary market transactions rose 14.4% or $900 million and refinancing loans went up 50% or $900 million. The number of new applications also increased 28.2%.

The proportion of new loans approved at more than 2.5% below the best lending rate fell to 58.4% from 67.4% in July. However, the proportion of new approvals priced with reference to rates other than the best lending rate or fixed rates rose to 32.8% from 18.9% in July. The increase was mainly attributable to Hong Kong Interbank Offered Rate-based loans.

The outstanding value of mortgage loans dipped 0.2%, to $526.4 billion. The mortgage delinquency ratio remained at 0.2%. With the rescheduled loan ratio falling to 0.29%, the combined ratio improved to 0.49% from 0.50% in July.

Mortgage