Housing loans surge in June

New approvals of residential mortgage loans (RMLs) and commercial real estate loans (CRELs) increased in June, according to statistics released on Friday by the Monetary Authority of Macau. With regard to outstanding balance, RMLs and CRELs both witnessed increases as well.
In June 2014, new RMLs approved by local banks rose 51.8 pct month-to-month to MOP9.2 billion, of which 75.5 pct was extended to residents. In terms of value, new RML to residents increased by 16.4 pct. When compared with the same period of 2013, new approvals of RMLs witnessed an increase of 207.4%.
According to DSEC, as of the end of June 2014, the outstanding value of RMLs reached MOP137.8 billion, an increase of 5.4 pct from one month earlier or 29.5 pct from a year ago. The resident component made up 94.0 pct of the total. Compared to the end of May 2014, outstanding RMLs to residents and non-residents grew 4.0% and 34.6 pct respectively.
At the end of June 2014, the delinquency ratio for RMLs was 0.06 pct, down 0.01 percentage points from a month ago or leveling off from a year ago. The ratio for CRELs stayed virtually unchanged at 0.08% from a month ago and from the end of June 2013.