Macao's new residential mortgage loans fall 15.5 pct in February

MACAO, April 12 (Xinhua) -- The new approvals of Macao's residential mortgage loans (RMLs) fell whereas those of commercial real estate loans (CRELs) rose month-on-month in February, the special administrative region's monetary watchdog said on Wednesday.

According to statistics released by the Monetary Authority of Macao, the new RMLs approved by Macao banks in February fell by 15.5 percent month-on-month to 1.22 billion patacas (151 million U.S. dollars).

The new RMLs to residents, representing 96.3 percent of the total, decreased by 15.2 percent to 1.18 billion patacas. The non-resident component also dropped to 45.79 million patacas.

The new CRELs increased by 59.6 percent month-to-month to 1.56 billion patacas. Within this total, new CRELs to residents occupied 98.3 percent.

At the end of February, the outstanding value of RMLs fell by 0.5 percent from the previous month, or 2.5 percent from a year earlier, to 236.7 billion patacas.

The outstanding value of CRELs rose by 0.1 percent month-to-month, or 0.2 percent year-on-year, to 161.7 billion patacas.

At the end of February, the delinquency ratio for RMLs stood at 0.5 percent, which remained unchanged from a month ago, but up 0.2 percentage points over a year earlier.

The delinquency ratio for CRELs stayed at 0.9 percent, but up 0.4 percentage points from the end of February 2022. (1 pataca equals 0.12 U.S. dollars)