Zhitong Finance App learned that Wang Meifeng, managing director of Zhongyuan Mortgage Research, pointed out that according to data from the Central Plains Research Department, the Bank of Hong Kong recorded 726 loan transfers in March 2024. The number hit a record low since 2017, a sharp decrease of 40.9% month-on-month. The reason was that banks raised mortgage interest rates and reduced rebate offers since September last year. The reason for conversion has been drastically reduced, leading to a marked decrease in the number of conversion applications since the fourth quarter of last year.
According to figures from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the number of new referrals in February has been falling for 5 months to a 15-year low. As a result, the number of reinstatements registered in the first quarter of this year has been falling for two consecutive months, and even dropped to less than 1,000 in March.
Wong Mei Fung added that at the end of February, the Hong Kong government withdrew the policy and raised the maximum mortgage ratio, driving a slight recovery in March. However, recently, the Bank of Hong Kong further cut mortgage rebates. Major banks have already cut reinstatement rebates to HK$0. The Hong Kong conversion market will shrink further, and the number of reinstatement registrations will drop further in the second quarter.
According to the data, BOCHK (02388) market share increased 0.7 percentage points month-on-month to 34.8% (253 cases) in March, and has been the market share leader for 7 consecutive months. HSBC's ranking rose one level to second, with 136 registrations, and its market share increased 6.1 percentage points month-on-month to 18.7%, the biggest increase over the previous month. ICBC Asia recorded a total of 103 transfer registrations. The market share decreased by 12.4 percentage points from the previous month to 14.2%, falling one level to third place. Hang Seng Bank (00011) had 57 registrations. The market share increased by 2 percentage points over the previous month to 7.9%, and the ranking rose one level to fourth. In total, the top 4 banks reduced their market share by 4.7 percentage points to 75.6% in March.
In March 2024, the ranking was changed to the 5th to 10th place by registered market share: Bank of East Asia (00023) (6.9% market share, ranking down 1 level 5), Citibank (3.3% market share, 2.2 percentage points increase from month to month, ranking 3 to 6th), Bank of Communications (2.2% market share, down 0.4 percentage points from month to month, down 1 level to 7th), Wing Lung Bank (1.8% market share, increased 1.1 percentage points from month to month, ranking up 1 percentage point from month to month 10) Dah Sing Bank (02356) and China CITIC Bank (market share The rate was 1.2%, a decrease of 0.3 percentage points and an increase of 0.5 percentage points, respectively, and ranked ninth).
In the first quarter of 2024, a total of 3,578 reinstatements were recorded, a slight increase of 2.3% compared to 3496 in the same period last year. BOCHK Hong Kong accounted for 35.9% of the first quarter, with a year-on-year increase of 127.1%, rising two levels to first place; ICBC Asia had a market share of 20.3%, climbing the third level to second place, with a year-on-year increase of 110.1% in registration volume. HSBC followed suit, falling two levels to third place, moving to 14.4% market share and 24.2% year-on-year decrease in registration volume. The Bank of East Asia, on the other hand, fell two levels to fourth place with a 9% market share, and the number of registrations decreased by 43.4% year on year. Hang Seng dropped one level to fifth place, based on 258 registrations, a year-on-year decrease of 35.8% and a market share of 7.2%. The biggest change was that Chong Hing Bank registered 31 transfers in the first quarter, a sharp increase of 3.43 times over the previous year, and its market share rose 12 levels to 9th place.