Mortgage loans in Hong Kong declined 15.9%

Blame it on the property cooling measures.

According to Barclays, in the HKMA’s latest residential mortgage survey, mortgage loans drawn down declined by 15.9% m/m to HK$15.9bn. The government doubled stamp duty on property purchases and the HKMA introduced a seventh round of property cooling measures on 22 February.

"We expect the property market to cool further going forward and currently forecast no growth of system mortgages (down from 8.4% in FY12)."