Mortgage delinquency ratio in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region dropped to 0.11 percent and rescheduled loan ratio fell to 0.2 percent, both record lows, driving the combined ratio lower to 0.32 percent, according to a report released Monday.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority, which virtually serves as the central bank in the special administrative region in South China, also found in the monthly survey that new mortgage loans drawn down rose 17.5 percent to HK$18.7 billion (US$2.4 billion).

New loans approved surged 20.5 percent to HK$27.7 billion (US$3.55 billion) in the city, which has seen its real properties industry rebounding since 2003.

The rise was attributed to more approvals for secondary market transactions, which more than offset the drop in approvals for primary market transactions and refinancing loans, the report said.

Approvals for secondary-market transactions grew 39.4 percent to HK$21.9 billion (US$2.81 billion), primary-market transactions fell 33.4 percent to HK$2.7 billion (US$0.35 billion), and refinancing loans dropped 3.3 percent to HK$3 billion (US$0.38 billion).

The number of new applications rose 3.9 percent, the report said.

The proportion of new loans approved at more than 2.5 percent below the best lending rate decreased to 90.9 percent from 94 percent in October. The outstanding value of mortgage loans rose 0.9 percent to HK$554.6 billion (US$71.1 billion).

Twenty-three authorized institutions participated in the monthly survey.