Residential mortgage loans approved in July decreased 6.8% compared with June to $54.4 billion, the Monetary Authority announced today.

Mortgage loans financing primary market transactions dropped 17.9% to $6.9 billion, while those financing secondary market transactions fell 3.1% to $38 billion.

Those for refinancing decreased 11.8% to $9.5 billion.

Mortgage loans drawn down during the month rose 0.4% to $39.3 billion.

The number of mortgage applications in July decreased month-on-month by 1% to 15,176.

The outstanding value of mortgage loans increased month-on-month by 0.9% to $1.6638 trillion at the end of July.