Negative equity mortgages in Hong Kong continue to fall

The number of residential mortgage loans in negative equity in Hong Kong fell further to 936cases in the second quarter, with an aggregate value of 1.7 billion HK dollars (0.22 billion U.S. dollars), the local Monetary Authority said Monday.

The number was 17 cases less than that of the previous quarter and represented a plunge of 99 percent from the peak of 106,000 cases at the end of June 2003.

The estimated unsecured portion of the loans remained unchanged at 200 million HK dollars. The loan- to-value ratio of the negative equity fell to 112 percent from 118 percent at the end of March.

The three-month delinquency ratio of the negative equity residential mortgage loans dropped to 0.61 percent from 1.13 percent at the end of March.