Residential mortgage loans approved in March increased 43% compared with the previous month to $37.3 billion, the Monetary Authority announced today.

Mortgage loans financing primary market transactions increased 16.6% to $7.9 billion while those financing secondary market transactions climbed 57.5% to $18.8 billion.

Those for refinancing increased 43.8% to $10.6 billion.

Mortgage loans drawn down during the month increased 20.7% to $19.9 billion.

The number of mortgage applications in March rose 55% month-on-month to 15,703.

The outstanding value of mortgage loans increased 0.3% month-on-month to $1.33 trillion at the end of March.