Fewer property loans were granted by Macao banks in August than in July, signalling that the lifting of property market restrictions has yet to bear fruit. Commercial real estate loans and residential mortgage loans both experienced declines, with official figures showing the former taking a particularly steep tumble.
The number of new commercial loans approved fell by a whopping 50.3 percent month-on-month, and totalled 954.2 million patacas. New residential loans meanwhile, fell by 0.6 percent month-on-month, coming in at 1.26 billion patacas in total.
The monthly average of new commercial loans approved between June and August was 1.69 billion, down 27.6 percent when compared with the previous reporting period (May to July). Residential loans for the same period averaged 1.24 billion, up 6.7 percent from the three months prior.
[See more: Overall residential property price index slumps by 13.6 percent year-on-year]
At the end of August, the outstanding value of commercial mortgages stood at 152.99 billion patacas – a 0.2 percent drop month-on-month and 0.4 percent decrease year-on-year. The outstanding value of residential mortgages was 223.07 billion patacas, down by 0.2 percent since the end of July and by 4 percent since August last year.
The delinquency ratio for commercial loans was unchanged at 3.8 percent month-on-month, but up 1.9 percent year-on-year. For residential mortgages, the delinquency ratio rose slightly to 4.3 percent in August, and was up 3.6 percent year-on-year.
Despite the lifting of property purchasing curbs back in April, Macao’s real estate market has struggled to boost its sales and prices. There are fears that the city could find itself in the same predicament as neighbouring Hong Kong, which removed market constraints in February but has failed to revitalise its slumping market.
