The Hong Kong Mortgage Corp, a government-owned agency set up to bolster the home loan market, plans to sell as much as HK$1 billion in retail bonds as early as next month, according to chief executive James Lau.
He said that as always, the company would look at the market's demand and supply to decide its bond issue. 'Some people think interest rates are stable and could even come down, [which might favour a bond issue],' he said.
The HKMC, which raises money to finance purchases of mortgage loans from banks, said it estimated the size of the next retail bond issue at HK$800 million to HK$1 billion.
While he would not disclose more details, Mr Lau said he believed investors might prefer to invest in bonds with short tenures.
In its last sale, the HKMC issued more than HK$1.2 billion worth of retail bonds in September last year, including a first-ever zero-coupon tranche.
The agency, created during a shortage of new mortgage supply, has been battling to find a place for itself now that the loan market is flooded with liquidity, diminishing the need for banks to offload mortgages to third parties.