Mortgage loans approved in March rose by 21.6% compared with the previous month to $39.5 billion, the Monetary Authority announced today.

Mortgage loans financing primary market transactions increased 40.7% to $7.6 billion while those financing secondary market transactions rose 10.9% to $22 billion.

Those for refinancing went up 36.4% to $9.8 billion.

Mortgage loans drawn down during the month increased 41.2% to $29.8 billion.

The number of mortgage applications in March increased 22.8% month-on-month to 13,716.

The outstanding value of mortgage loans rose 0.8% month-on-month to $1.2284 trillion.