HOUSING LOANS

Mr Chia Shi Teck asked the Minister for Finance if he will provide the following statistics to show the trend of housing loans from 1989 to 1993: (i) the number of housing loans taken from financial institutions each year; (ii) the number of loans (a) below $100,000; (b) $101,000 to $250,000; (c) $251,000 to $500,000; (d) $501,000 to $750,000; (e) $751,000 to $1m; and (f) above $1m; and (iii) the number of loans with repayment periods (a) below 5 years; (b) 6 to 10 years; (c) 11 to 15 years; (d) 16 to 20 years; (e) 21 to 25 years; and (f) above 25 years.

Dr Richard Hu Tsu Tau: The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) does not collect statistics on housing loans from financial institutions in Singapore in the format requested. Instead, it collects data on the total outstanding amount of housing loans granted by banks and finance companies at the end of each year. The figures for the period 1989 to 1993 are given below: ______________________________________________________ Amount of housing loans outstanding _______________________________________ Year Finance Banks* Companies Total ($bn) ($bn) ($bn) ______________________________________________________ 1989 5.76 1.68 7.44 1990 7.20 1.61 8.81 1991 8.84 1.52 10.36 1992 10.80 1.47 12.27 1993 14.14 1.83 15.97 ______________________________________________________ (*Includes POSBank)

Based on a recent survey conducted by MAS on housing loans extended by various banks and finance companies as at 31st March 1994, a total of 102,328 loans totalling $21.5 billion has been granted by these financial institutions to individuals and companies for the purchase of residential properties. The breakdown of the number of loans granted in the various loan quanta is given in the following table: _______________________________________________________________ Quantum of Loan* Number of Loans _______________________________________________________________ Up to $250,000 64,794 (63%) >$250,000 -- $500,000 25,734 (25%) >$500,000 -- $750,000 7,442 (7%) >$750,000 -- $1,000,000 2,453 (3%) >$1,000,000 1,905 (2%) TOTAL 102,328 (100%) _______________________________________________________________ * The above loans cover 90% of all loans given by financial institutions.

Statistics on the number of loans with varying repayment periods are not available.