The value of new mortgage loans drawn down in July fell for the second consecutive month by a third, to $11 billion, while the number of new applications fell 30.5%, the Monetary Authority says.

New loans approved also dropped a third, to $9.9 billion. There was an across-the-board reduction in the number and value of all types of approvals. In value terms, primary market transactions fell 49.3%, refinancing loans 41.4% and secondary market transactions 27.7%.

The proportion of new loan approvals priced at more than 2.5% below the best lending rate decreased to 17.3% compared with 40.4% in June. The proportion of new loan approvals priced at 2% to 2.25% below the best lending rate surged to 25.1% from 13.4% in June to become the most commonly used interest rate band for new approvals in July. 

The outstanding value of mortgage loans dipped 0.2% to $542 billion. The mortgage delinquency ratio remained unchanged at 0.22%. With the rescheduled loan ratio edging down to 0.37% from 0.38%, the combined ratio improved to 0.58% from 0.60% in June.