Zhitong Finance App learned that Wang Meifeng, managing director of Central Plains Mortgage Insurance, pointed out that Hong Kong's third quarter mortgage insurance figures fell sharply, mainly reflecting the fact that the property market entered a phased adjustment period in mid-year. Coupled with the overall relaxation of the self-housing sector according to policies, and the increase in the market entry ratio of non-insured users (such as investors), the overall market's dependence and demand for high-value mortgage insurance declined structurally; under the above factors, the impact on mortgage insurance figures recorded an overall decline in the third quarter.
According to the latest data released by the Hong Kong Mortgage Corporation, both the newly approved mortgage figures and the newly used mortgage figures in September recorded declines. The number of newly approved insurance cases decreased by 8.2% month-on-month to 718 cases; the amount of newly approved mortgages decreased by 7.2% month-on-month to HK$3.8 billion. The number and amount of new approvals in September hit new lows in recent years, hitting new lows in 127 months (more than ten and a half years) and 93 months (nearly eight years), respectively. In the same period, the number of new withdrawals plummeted 25.2% month-on-month to 413; the amount of new withdrawals fell 25.7% month-on-month to HK$2.3 billion; the number and amount of new withdrawals hit a half-year low.
Wang Meifeng said that the number of new takings recorded a drop of more than 20% in September, mainly due to the fact that the new take-off figures were mainly recorded after the meeting. The reflected market conditions were relatively lagging behind. The decline mainly reflected the property market adjustment period in the middle of the year. Mortgage applications followed a decline during this period, which was quite different from the peak market level in the first half of the year, so it recorded a significant decline. The average amount of newly used mortgage loans was approximately HK$5.58 million, down about HK$40,000 from the previous month (a decrease of about 0.7%). First-hand properties accounted for 23% and second-hand properties accounted for 77%.
According to cumulative data, in the first nine months of 2026, 9,707 new cases were recorded in the first nine months of 2026, amounting to HK$53.1 billion, a decrease of 22.3% and 14.8%, respectively, compared with the same period last year. As for the first nine months, a total of 4,433 new withdrawals were recorded, representing a year-on-year decrease of 18.1%, while the amount decreased by 11.2% year-on-year to HK$23.7 billion.
New mortgage insurance figures for the first nine months of 2026 recorded a year-on-year decline. According to Wang Meifeng's analysis, based on the mortgage policy, the mortgage policy has been fully relaxed to 70%, and more buyers have chosen to buy as little as 30% of the first installment without going through mortgage insurance, reducing their dependence on high-yield mortgage insurance, resulting in a structural decline in mortgage demand.
According to the data, the latest September mortgage usage ratio (that is, the ratio of newly taken out as a share of the total number of residential mortgages insured) was a low level of 8.9%, a new low in 81 months (nearly 7 years) after 8.5% in October 2019, in stark contrast to the high of over 30% before the policy was relaxed. Furthermore, with the return of diversified customer sources to the property market, the proportion of investors entering the market has rebounded, and this type of non-self-use property is not suitable for high-yield mortgage insurance, which is also one of the key factors leading to the continued low level of penetration in the mortgage market.