August mortgage loans down 27%

But the number of new applications surge by 5% to 9,682.

There were $14.7 billion in new mortgage loans drawn down in August, a fall of 27.0% on July.

The Monetary Authority announced Monday new loans approved fell 10.3% to $15.8 billion.

Approvals for primary and secondary market transactions dropped by 9.2% to $2.5 billion and 11.9% to $10.5 billion, while those for refinancing went down 5.1% to $2.8 billion.

The number of new applications rose 5.0% to 9,682.

About 42.1% of the new mortgage loans approved in August were priced with reference to best lending rates, with the largest portion in the price range of less than 2.25%, according to a Monetary Department report.

The proportion of new mortgage loans priced with reference to Hang Seng Interbank Offered Rates dropped to 55.8% in August.

The outstanding value of mortgage loans rose 0.4% to $797.1 billion.