The value of new housing loans drawn down in January fell 16.7% to $7.2 billion. But the value of new approvals rose 11.5% to $9.6 billion, with those for primary and secondary market transactions growing at a similar pace.

The Monetary Authority said today the proportion of new approvals priced at more than 2.5% below the best lending rate edged down to 65.2% from 65.5% in December.

More fixed rate mortgages were approved in January, as indicated by the proportion of new approvals priced other than with reference to the best lending rate, which rose to 4.5% from 3.2% in December.

The outstanding amount of mortgage loans fell slightly by 0.1% to $521.5 billion. 

The improvement in quality of the mortgage portfolio continued. The mortgage delinquency ratio and the rescheduled loan ratio fell to 0.83% and 0.51% respectively from 0.86% and 0.52% in December. As a result, the combined ratio fell to 1.34% from 1.38%.

New loans drawn down for purchasing properties on the Mainland fell to $207 million. The amount of outstanding loans at the end of the month was $6.5 billion.