Residential mortgage loans approved in January decreased 1.7% compared with December to $37.8 billion, the Monetary Authority announced today.

Mortgage loans financing primary market transactions fell 22.5% to $5 billion, while those financing secondary market transactions increased 1.5% to $27.1 billion.

Those for refinancing rose 6.8% to $5.8 billion.

Mortgage loans drawn down during the month dropped 5.9% to $24.9 billion.

The number of mortgage applications in January increased month-on-month by 15.1% to 13,112.

The outstanding value of mortgage loans increased month-on-month by 0.6% to $1.5909 trillion at the end of January.