A MASSIVE 47 per cent leap in the volume of new home loans taken out in June must mean that the dreaded speculators have returned.
That in turn means the Government is likely to be even more reluctant to phase out its controversial 70 per cent mortgage limit guideline to banks.
The value of new home loans jumped from $7.66 billion in May to $11.2 billion in June, according to statistics released yesterday by the Monetary Authority.
To put this down to a surge of buying by end-users would be wrong.
Banks publicly say they are doing their utmost to prevent mortgage lending to out-and-out speculators. But some must be.
The Monetary Authority said the number of home deals climbed from 6,500 in May to 9,600 in June.
Yet few people in Hongkong can afford the hefty 30 to 40 per cent down-payments demanded under the 70 per cent mortgage limit.