Residential mortgage loans approved in December decreased 9.4% compared with November to $25.6 billion, the Monetary Authority announced today.

Mortgage loans financing primary market transactions dropped 14.3% to $7 billion, while those financing secondary market transactions increased 0.4% to $12.5 billion.

Loans for refinancing fell 20.2% to $6 billion.

Mortgage loans drawn down during the month rose 2.8% to $21.9 billion.

The number of mortgage applications in December stood at 7,510, a month-on-month drop of 3.6%.

The outstanding value of mortgage loans increased 0.4% to $1.8099 trillion at the end of December.