Residential mortgage loans approved in August decreased 12.2% compared with July to $37.7 billion, the Monetary Authority announced today.

Mortgage loans financing primary market transactions dropped by 21.2% to $6.5 billion, while those financing secondary market transactions fell 11.8% to $26.2 billion.

Those for refinancing rose by 1% to $5.1 billion.

Mortgage loans drawn down during the month fell 3.5% to $30.3 billion.

The number of mortgage applications in August decreased month-on-month by 18.1% to 10,846.

The outstanding value of mortgage loans increased month-on-month by 0.9% to $1.544 trillion at the end of August.