The Macau General Association of Real Estate has called on the local government to effectively halve the size of the down payments required from mortgage applicants.
Increasing the recommended maximum loan-to-value ratio for local homebuyers to 85 percent from the current 70 percent would give an additional boost to the property market, the realtors told local media.
The market has shown only modest signs of recovery since April, when the government axed punitive duties originally imposed to curb speculation.
[See more: First quarter residential property prices are down 9 percent compared to last year]
Macao’s current property market offers “abundant options for buyers,” says the association’s president Chong Sio Kin, whose remarks to reporters were cited in the Macau Daily Times. He said that reducing recommended down payments to 15 percent would increase the range of affordable options, however.
The SAR’s overall residential property price index stood at 222 during the period from February and April 2024 – a decrease of 2 percent in comparison to the previous rolling three-month period between January and March 2024.
Realtors say that while reforms have helped to increase sales, the recovery of prices may take some time.
