HONG KONG, March 6 (Xinhua) -- The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government on Thursday refuted credit rating agency Standard & Poor's latest report regarding an oversupply of residential properties in Hong Kong, saying that the city's residential property market will experience stable development in 2025.

The vacancy rate of private flats was 4.5 percent at the end of 2024, on par with the long-term average of the previous 20 years (2004-2023), and flat rentals also sustained a solid increase, a spokesperson for the HKSAR government said, noting "These data show that housing demand is currently keen."

Benefiting from the general downtrend in interest rates, continued economic growth, and more talents arriving in Hong Kong, the residential property market should see stable development this year, the spokesperson said, adding that the HKSAR government will continue to closely monitor market developments and strive to maintain the steady development of the residential property market in a prudent and pragmatic manner.

"Property lending for the Hong Kong banking system amounted to 3.4 trillion Hong Kong dollars as of the end of December 2024, accounting for about one third of the total loans. Among the property-related lending, 56 percent were residential mortgage loans, while the remaining 44 percent were loans for local property development and investment," the spokesperson said, affirming that "the credit quality and risks of the banking sector remain manageable."

For residential mortgage loans (RMLs), as of the end of January 2025, the overall delinquency ratio of mortgage loans was only 0.12 percent while the delinquency ratio of RMLs in negative equity remained stable at 0.15 percent as of the end of December 2024, showing that the vast majority of mortgage borrowers are able to repay their loans on time, the spokesperson said.