MACAO, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Macao's new approvals of both residential mortgage loans (RMLs) and commercial real estate loans (CRELs) rose in December 2018, China's Macao Special Administrative Region's monetary watchdog said on Wednesday.

According to statistics released by the Monetary Authority of Macao, new RMLs approved by Macao banks in December increased 2.2 percent month-to-month to 3.7 billion patacas (about 459 million U.S. dollars).

The monthly average of new RMLs approved between October and December 2018 was 3.5 billion patacas (about 434 million U.S. dollars), down 36.1 percent from the previous period (September to November 2018).

New CRELs rose 96.7 percent month-to-month to 5.5 billion patacas (about 682 million U.S. dollars). New CRELs to residents which accounted for 99.1 percent of the total, surged by 107.2 percent, mainly driven by new enterprise loans with a high denomination.

The monthly average of new CRELs approved between October and December 2018 was 3.9 billion patacas (about 484 million U.S. dollars), up 23.5 percent while compared with the previous period (September to November 2018).

At the end of December 2018, the outstanding value of RMLs was 215.7 billion patacas (about 26.7 billion U.S. dollars), up 1.1 percent from a month earlier or 13.9 percent from a year ago. The resident component made up 92.7 percent of the total.

The outstanding value of CRELs was 198.3 billion patacas (about 24.6 billion U.S. dollars), up 2.2 percent month-to-month or 11.0 percent from a year earlier.

At the end of December 2018, the delinquency ratio for RMLs was 0.16 percent, unchanged from the preceding month but down by 0.02 percentage points over a year earlier. The ratio for CRELs stayed at 0.15 percent from a month ago but up by 0.01 percentage point from the end of December 2017.