Residential mortgage loans approved in February increased 29.1% compared with January to $34.2 billion, the Monetary Authority announced today.

Mortgage loans financing primary market transactions increased 18.4% to $7.7 billion, while those financing secondary market transactions rose 47.5% to $21.6 billion.

Loans for refinancing fell 8.8% to $4.8 billion.

Mortgage loans drawn down during the month rose 0.6% to $17.3 billion.

The number of mortgage applications in February increased to 9,719, a month-on-month rise of 32.4%.

The outstanding value of mortgage loans increased 0.2% to $1.8 trillion at the end of February.