Centaline Property Research's Senior Associate Director, Ms Yang Ming Yi, pointed out that 1,824 second-hand private residential mortgage contracts were registered in April 2023, down 81 cases month-on-month.

The second quarter of the year is expected to see a slight rebound from the 4,484 registered in the first quarter, but the number is still low, estimated at around 5,000, mainly reflecting the pre-Easter secondary market situation.

The significant drop in secondary transactions after the Easter break and the continued lull in the market will push down demand for secondary existing mortgages, which will be reflected in the third quarter figures.

In April 2023, 2,958 private residential mortgages were registered, a decrease of 1,478 month-on-month. Of these, 147 were in the primary market, 1,824 in the secondary market, and 822 were remortgages/re-mortgages.

In April, 65 private residential mortgages were registered, an increase of 14 cases month-on-month. Projects with high registration volume include ONE INNOVALE Phase 3 and ONE INNOVALE Phase 2. With developers actively promoting new developments this year, the sales of uncompleted flats are expected to be satisfactory.

In April, 1,698 mortgage contracts were registered under the Home Ownership Scheme, Sandwich Class Housing Scheme and Tenants Purchase Scheme, down 835 cases month-on-month. The registration volume was mainly concentrated in Tsing Fu Court and Yue Nga Court, indicating that new Home Ownership Scheme flats are being taken up for mortgage.

In April 2023, 4,856 mortgage contracts (excluding uncompleted flats) were registered. BOC undertook 1,313 contracts (27.0%), HSBC 1,149 (23.7%), Hang Seng 939 (19.3%) and Standard Chartered 65 (1.3%).