Residential, commercial mortgage loans drop in January

New approvals of residential mortgage loans (RMLs) and commercial real estate loans (CRELs) fell significantly month-to-month in January compared to December 2022, the Monetary Authority of Macao has revealed.

In January, new RMLs approved by local banks dropped 52.3% month-to-month to MOP1.44 billion.

With the positive results at the end of 2022, the monthly average of new RMLs approved between November 2022 and January was up 8.5% from the previous period (October to December 2022), reaching MOP1.95 billion.

The new CRELs also registered a significant drop, which fell 37.7% month-to-month to MOP976.44 million.

RMLs refer to credit facilities banks provide to individuals and enterprises that are collateralized by residential real estate. They include loans to finance the purchase of residential properties and other purposes such as refinancing loans, working capital and trade financing.

Contrary to the trend of the residential mortgage loans, the monthly average of new CRELs approved between November 2022 and January continued to fall, down 61.5% compared with the previous period (October to December 2022). Total CRELs approved from November 2022 to January represented some MOP1.31 billion.

Also falling but positive were the outstanding balances of both RMLs and CRELs. As of end-January, the outstanding value of RMLs was MOP237.8 billion, a drop of 0.3% from the previous month or 2.1% from a year earlier.

Concurrently, the outstanding value of CRELs dropped 2.1% month-to-month or 0.8% year-on-year to MOP161.5 billion.

CRELs refer to credit facilities banks provide to individuals and enterprises that are collateralized by commercial real estate. They include loans to construction companies and loans to finance property development and investment.