Macao’s financial landscape experienced a varied August, with new approvals for residential mortgage loans (RMLs) falling, while commercial real estate loans (CRELs) saw a significant increase, according to statistics released yesterday by the Monetary Authority of Macao. Both RMLs and CRELs recorded monthly declines in their outstanding balances.
New lending approvals
New RMLs approved by Macao banks in August decreased by 22.2 percent month-on-month to 820.82 million patacas (US$101.9 million). Loans to residents, which constituted 98.2 percent of the total, dropped by 22.5 percent to 806.05 million patacas (US$100 million), while non-resident loans fell by 3.1% to 14.77 million patacas (approximately US$1.8 million). The average monthly new RMLs approved between June and August stood at 977.79 million patacas (US$121.3 million), a 4.1 percent decrease from the May to July period.
Conversely, new CRELs witnessed a substantial surge, rising by 301.8 percent to 1.14 billion patacas (US$141.4 million), albeit from a comparatively low base in the preceding month. Resident CRELs, accounting for 54.1 percent of the total, increased by 125.5 percent to 617.70 million patacas (US$76.6 million), with non-resident CRELs also growing to 524.48 million patacas (US$65 million). The monthly average for new CRELs approved from June to August was 1.10 billion patacas (US$136.5 million), marking a 20.8 percent increase compared to the previous three-month period.
Outstanding balances and delinquency ratios
As of the end of August, the outstanding value of RMLs decreased by 0.6 percent month-on-month and 5.9 percent year-on-year, reaching 209.86 billion patacas (US$26 billion). The resident component made up 96.7 percent of this total, with outstanding RMLs to both residents and non-residents declining by 0.6 percent and 0.8 percent respectively compared to the previous month.
The outstanding value of CRELs was 143.54 billion patacas (US$17.8 billion), a 1.3 percent fall from the preceding month and a 6.2 percent decrease from a year ago. Resident CRELs accounted for 91.4 percent of the total, with outstanding CRELs to residents and non-residents dropping by 1.3 percent and 2.0 percent respectively month-on-month.
Meanwhile, at the close of August, the delinquency ratio for RMLs edged up by 0.1 percentage point from the previous month to 3.8 percent, though it was 0.5 percentage points lower than a year earlier. For CRELs, the ratio increased by 0.1 percentage point month-on-month to 5.5 percent, a rise of 1.6 percentage points from end-August 2024.
Detailed figures are available here.
This article was drafted by AI before being reviewed by an editor.
