By South China Morning Post | Created at 2024-10-31 09:31:52 | Updated at 2024-10-31 11:15:04
1 hour ago
Hong Kong’s mortgage borrowers are finding themselves in increasingly dire straits, as the worth of their property are falling faster than the value of their loans, according to the latest data released by the city’s monetary authority.
The number of negative equity cases soared to 40,713 at the end of September, a jump of 34 per cent from June, according to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA). It was the highest number of cases in 21 years, since the fourth quarter of 2003.
These cases were mainly related to bank staff housing loans or RMLs under mortgage insurance programme, which generally have a higher loan-to-value ratio, the HKMA said.
Still, the jump in cases is no cause for concern, said Eric Tso, the chief vice-president of mReferral, a local mortgage broker.
“It does not mean that owners are unable to pay, as the repayment ability of Hong Kong owners has been stable for more than 10 years,” Tso said.
Among negative equity cases, 0.13 per cent of outstanding loans had been delinquent for more than three months as of September, compared with 0.1 per cent in August.
