Macao's new residential mortgage loans rise 56.5 pct in March

MACAO, May 11 (Xinhua) -- The new approvals of Macao's residential mortgage loans (RMLs) and commercial real estate loans (CRELs) both increased month-on-month in March, the special administrative region's monetary watchdog said on Thursday.

According to statistics released by the Monetary Authority of Macao, the new RMLs approved by Macao banks in March rose by 56.5 percent month-on-month to 1.91 billion patacas (236.7 million U.S. dollars).

The new RMLs to residents, representing 98.7 percent of the total, grew by 60.5 percent to 1.89 billion patacas. The non-resident component decreased to 25.50 million patacas.

The new CRELs increased by 61.5 percent month-to-month to 2.52 billion patacas. Within this total, new CRELs to residents occupied 93.5 percent.

At the end of March, the outstanding value of RMLs fell by 0.3 percent from the previous month, or 2.7 percent from a year earlier, to 236.1 billion patacas, attributable to the repayment of loans with a large denomination.

The outstanding value of CRELs rose by 0.2 percent month-to-month, or 0.4 percent year-on-year, to 162.0 billion patacas.

At the end of March, the delinquency ratio for RMLs stood at 0.6 percent, which went up by 0.1 percentage point from a month ago, or 0.2 percentage points over a year earlier.

The delinquency ratio for CRELs was 1.1 percent, up by 0.1 percentage point from a month ago, or 0.5 percentage points from the end of March 2022. (1 pataca equals 0.12 U.S. dollars)