Residential mortgage loans approved in December increased 3.4% compared with November to $38.4 billion, the Monetary Authority announced today.

Mortgage loans financing primary market transactions rose 5.4% to $6.4 billion, while those financing secondary market transactions increased 0.7% to $26.6 billion.

Those for refinancing increased by 15.8% to $5.4 billion.

Mortgage loans drawn down during the month rose 3.7% to $26.5 billion.

The number of mortgage applications in December increased month-on-month by 0.2% to 11,396.

The outstanding value of mortgage loans increased month-on-month by 0.6% to $ 1.5821 trillion at the end of December.