New approvals of Macao's residential mortgage loans (RMLs) and commercial real estate loans (CRELs) both decreased month on month in May, the special administrative region's monetary watchdog said on Wednesday.

According to statistics released by the Monetary Authority of Macao, the new RMLs approved by Macao banks in May fell 3.1 percent month on month to 1.11 billion patacas (about 137.5 million U.S. dollars), while CRELs decreased by 66 percent to 552.01 million patacas.

At the end of May, the outstanding value of RMLs stood at 202.9 billion patacas, down 0.2 percent from a month earlier, while the outstanding value of CRELs rose 0.4 percent to 133.61 billion patacas.