Residential mortgage loans approved in May increased 26% compared with April to $41 billion, the Monetary Authority announced today.

Mortgage loans financing primary market transactions increased 11.2% to $6.5 billion, while those financing secondary market transactions rose 37.6% to $28.5 billion.

Those for refinancing decreased 0.1% to $5.9 billion.

Mortgage loans drawn down during the month increased 36.4% to $23.6 billion.

The number of mortgage applications in May increased month-on-month by 38.4% to 15,019.

The outstanding value of mortgage loans rose 0.6% to $1.5021 trillion at the end of May.