Hong Kong registered 1,228 bank transfers in February 2024, a decrease of 24.4% over the previous month.
The Zhitong Finance App learned that, according to statistics from the Central Plains Real Estate Research Department, Hong Kong registered 1,228 bank loans in February 2024, a decrease of 24.4% over the previous month. According to the data, BOCHK (02388) market share decreased by 3.5 percentage points month-on-month to 34.1% (419 cases) in February, but remained the market share leader for 6 consecutive months. ICBC Asia ranked second, with 327 registrations, and its market share increased 8.4 percentage points from month to month to 26.6%. HSBC recorded 155 transfers. The market share decreased by 1.3 percentage points from month to month to 12.6%, ranking third for two consecutive months. The Bank of East Asia (00023) remained in fourth place, with 85 registrations, and its market share decreased by 4.6 percentage points from month to month to 6.9%. In total, the top four banks reduced their market share by 0.8 percentage points to 80.3% in February.
Wang Meifeng, managing director of Central Plains Mortgage, explained that with the Bank of Hong Kong raising new construction and shifting interest rates and reducing concessions last year, the incentives for refinancing have been drastically reduced. As for the number of conversion applications, it has also gradually declined since the fourth quarter of last year. As a result, the number of reinstatement registrations followed the decline in February of this year. It is expected that the number of month-on-month conversion registrations will drop to less than 1,000 in the future.
Wang Meifeng continued that the incentives for refinancing have decreased, and that in addition, some large banks have recently cut refinancing rebates to zero. Wang Meifeng anticipates that the conversion market will continue to weaken as a result, and the number of repurchase registrations will drop further in the second quarter of this year.