New loan approvals down in April

According to statistics released on Friday by the Monetary Authority of Macau, new approvals of residential mortgage loans (RMLs) and commercial real estate loans (CRELs) were both down in April 2017, compared with the previous month.

At the same time, with regard to outstanding balances, RMLs posted a slight monthly increase, whereas CRELs remained virtually unchanged.

New RMLs approved by Macau banks decreased by 18.8 percent month-to-month in April to MOP3.4 billion, with those granted to Macau residents accounting for 97.3 percent of the total. The non-resident component decreased by 11.8 percent to MOP89.5 million.

Meanwhile, new CRELs fell by 26.6 percent month-to-month to MOP4 billion, of which the resident component accounted for 98.7 percent of the total and had decreased by 18.5 percent. Those extended to non-residents shrank considerably by 91.7 percent, due to a higher comparison base in the previous month.

However, compared to a year ago, new approvals of RMLs increased by 19 percent, while CRELs grew by more than 76 percent.

At the end of April 2017, the outstanding value of RMLs was MOP183.3 billion, up slightly by 0.3 percent from the previous month or 4.8 percent from a year ago. Meanwhile the balance of CRELs stood at MOP169.5 billion, virtually unchanged from a month ago, but up 1.7 percent year-on-year.