Mortgage loans surged 10.3% to $14.9 in October

Primary market deals up 29.2%.

In a report, the Monetary Authority announced mortgage loan approvals in October increased by 10.3% month-on-month to $14.9 billion.

Those for primary market transactions rose 29.2% to $3.6 billion and those financing secondary market transactions grew 5.3% to $8.6 billion. Mortgage loans for refinancing also increased 6.3% to $2.8 billion.

Mortgage loans drawn down during the month decreased by 3.6% compared with September to $11.2 billion.

The number of mortgage applications in October increased by 14.1% month-on-month to 8,587.

New mortgage loans priced with reference to best lending rates decreased from 72.7% in September to 71.7% in October, with the majority priced within the range of 2% and 2.25%. Those priced with reference to HIBOR increased from 25.6% in September to 26.3% in October.

The outstanding value of mortgage loans increased month-on-month by 0.2% to $901.9 billion at the end of October.

The mortgage delinquency ratio decreased slightly from 0.02% in September to 0.01% in October. The rescheduled loan ratio remained unchanged at nearly 0%.