The latest mortgage approval figures from the Monetary Authority of Macao suggest that activity in Macao’s residential property market remains tepid.
The figures show that there was a 26.3 percent month-on-month decline in the total value of residential mortgage loans approved in May – a month after the local government lifted punitive stamp duties in a bid to boost the market – with the sum falling to 1.02 billion patacas.
Local buyers were responsible for almost 98 percent of the figure.
[See more: Macao’s realtors call for a major reduction in mortgage down payments]
On the other hand, commercial real estate loans jumped significantly – rising by over 133 percent month on month to 2.89 billion patacas. These loans were made almost entirely to residents, with loans taken out by foreigners standing at just over 7 million patacas.
The latest mortgage statistics come in the wake of figures showing an almost 1 percent decline in the residential property price index for March to May of this year.
In a bit to stimulate the market, 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 maximum loan-to-value ratio for local homebuyers to 85 percent from the current 70 percent.
