The government-funded fixed-rate mortgage pilot scheme helped Dao Heng Bank record double-digit growth in its mortgage business in August from July.
The bank said yesterday that stripping this out, its normal floating-rate mortgages remained flat last month on an enlarged July base boosted by rapid growth in new loans for buyers of Cheung Kong (Holdings)'s launch of Tierra Verde apartments in Tsing Yi.
General manager Paul Wong Hok-leung said home-buyers' concern about a possible discontinuation of the government-subsidised fixed-rate mortgage scheme invited a rush of last-minute applications.
During the six-month pilot scheme which ended this month, Dao Heng Bank approved $1.1 billion in fixed-rate mortgages, comprising 80 per cent of the $1.4 million quota offered by the Hong Kong Mortgage Corp (HKMC).
These mortgages will not be carried on the books of Dao Heng Bank or other banks participating in the scheme, but will be sold to the HKMC on a loan-by-loan basis once they are drawn down.
The HKMC recently announced it would extend the scheme by offering an additional quota of $3.5 billion and increasing the number of participating banks from two to eight.
