The Hong Kong Monetary Authority assured the market that the risks in banks' mortgage business is controllable, because the loan quality under the mortgage insurance programme - which has a higher loan-to-value ratio - is still very good, registering only 0.01% delinquency ratio. HKMA said in a statement on Tuesday its survey estimated 12,164 cases of negative equity at the end of December, the highest since the first quarter of 2005. The cases involved HK$66.3 billion ($8.46 billion), compared with 533 cases and HK$3 billion at the end of September.
Home prices in the financial hub, one of the most
unaffordable property markets in the world, fell 15.6% in 2022
in the first annual drop since 2008, official data showed last
week.
Prices eased 7.7% in the fourth quarter, following a 8.5%
fall in the third quarter, weighed down by a weak economic
outlook and rising mortgage costs, after a COVID-19 outbreak at
the beginning of the year.
($1 = 7.8378 Hong Kong dollars)
(Reporting by Clare Jim; Editing by Jane Merriman)
