Residential mortgage loans in negative equity: End of March 2026

On Thu, 30 Apr, The Hong Kong Monetary Authority announced the results of its survey on residential mortgage loans ("RMLs") in negative equity at end-March 2026. The estimated number of RMLs in negative equity was 11,424 cases at end-March 2026, down by 46.4% from 21,304 cases at end-December 2025. These cases were mainly related to bank staff housing loans or RMLs under mortgage insurance programme, which generally have a higher loan-to-value ratio. HKMA Survey Findings on Negative Equity RMLs

Aggregate Valuation and Delinquency Metrics The aggregate value of RMLs in negative equity decreased by 47.8% to HK$55 billion at end-March 2026, compared with HK$105.4 billion at end-December 2025. The unsecured portion of these loans decreased to HK$2.8 billion at end-March 2026 from HK$6.2 billion at end-December 2025. The three-month delinquency ratio of RMLs in negative equity remained at a low level of 0.5% at end-March 2026, as compared to 0.31% at end-December 2025.

Methodological Scope and Limitations It is important to note that the figures derived from this survey relate only to RMLs provided by authorized institutions on the basis of first mortgages and which the reporting institution knows to be in negative equity, where the outstanding loan amount with the reporting institution exceeds the current market value of the mortgaged property. Not included in these figures are RMLs associated with co-financing schemes which would be in negative equity if the second mortgages were taken into account. The extent to which such RMLs are in negative equity is not known because authorized institutions do not maintain records on the outstanding balances of the second mortgages.

Survey Coverage and Extrapolation The mortgage portfolios of the surveyed authorized institutions represent about 99% of the industry total. The survey results have been extrapolated to estimate the position of the banking sector as a whole.