A total of 7,652 residential flats were under construction at the end of March, and the units are expected to be absorbed by the market over the next three years, the managing director of the local office of Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), Gregory Ku Ka Ho, said during Wednesday’s Macau Mid-year Property Review press conference at the office in the Finance and IT Centre.
Ku noted that 14, 572 residential units are currently in the design stage, including those for the Ilha Verde Urbanisation Plan and Northern Taipa Urbanisation Plan, but construction of the projects was unlikely to start any time soon because, according to Ku, there are still no detailed plans for the development of these two areas.
Ku urged the government to speed up the urban renewal projects and “proactively find ways to increase land supply” to prevent the city’s property market from facing the dilemma of discontinuity of supply.
The company’s residential property chief Jeff Wong Chi Wai pointed out that the total residential sales transaction volume in the city contracted significantly due to the US-China trade war that dampened investment sentiment.
Wong added that the capital values of high-end and mass-to medium residential properties fell by 3.5 and 1.8 per cent respectively compared to the end of last year due to external economic uncertainty.
According to the Macau Post Daily, Wong said that although the number of imported workers rose a bit, the number of residential units available for rent during the same period also increased, pinpointing that the rental values of high-end and mass-to-medium residential properties edged up by 0.3 and 0.2 per cent respectively compared to the end of last year.
Conversely, the transaction volume for the commercial market dropped drastically, said JLL’s retail and markets chief Oliver Tong Wai Lok. He added that compared to the peak, which occurred in 2013-2014, this year’s transaction volume dropped as much as 80-90 per cent.
Tong said one of the reasons for the drop was the regulations and restrictions that the government implemented in 2012. Tong said as the regulations and restrictions have been around for more than half a decade, the government should review their impact and consequences as soon as possible.
