A rising trend in mortgage lending turned around last month as residential property transactions shrank and fierce competition among banks to grab a bigger share of mortgages subsided.
According to statistics released by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, new loans approved in June fell 21.5 per cent to $15.63 billion from $19.93 billion in May.
New loans approved but not drawn dropped 20.1 per cent to $11.1 billion from $13.9 billion.
Gross loans made during the month jumped 10.4 per cent to $14.62 billion from $13.24 billion.
Analysts said the fall in new loans was not surprising in view of the 33.1 per cent drop in registered property transactions to 11,056 last month.
The total value of transactions fell 25.3 per cent to $34.79 billion.
Vickers Ballas analyst Desmond Cheung Chi-hung said it was normal to see a slowdown in property transactions and mortgage lending after strong market rallies.
