Residential mortgage loans approved in July decreased 22.1% compared with June to $40.1 billion, the Monetary Authority announced today.

Mortgage loans financing primary market transactions rose 3.3% to $7.4 billion, while those financing secondary market transactions dropped 30.3% to $21.7 billion.

Those for refinancing fell 16.5% to $11 billion.

Mortgage loans drawn down during the month increased 4.3% to $30.8 billion.

The number of mortgage applications in July stood at 9,497, a month-on-month drop of 13.2%.

The outstanding value of mortgage loans increased 0.5% to $1.7834 trillion at the end of July.

(The source: news.gov.hk)