The 23 authorised institutions participating in the Monetary Authority's monthly survey of residential mortgage lending reported a 20.3% fall in new loans drawn down during January, to $6 billion. New loans approved by the institutions fell 1.6% to $7.6 billion.

Within this total, approvals for primary-market transactions fell $473 million (-27.2%) and refinancings $130 million (-14.6%), which more than offset the $484 million (+9.6%) rise in approvals for secondary-market transactions. The number of new applications also slipped 0.3%.

The proportion of new approvals priced at more than 2.25% and up to 2.5% below the best lending rate rose slightly, to 39% from 38.3% in December last year. This continued to be the most commonly used interest-rate band for new approvals in January.

The outstanding value of mortgage loans fell 0.2%, to $531.9 billion.