The city’s housing prices may have skyrocketed over the past decade but its current housing price levels are “reasonable”, Centaline (Macau) Property Agency Director Jacky Shek Pou Tak said Monday.
Shek spoke to reporters on the sidelines of the company’s 10th anniversary bash.
“Housing prices have multiplied over the past 10 years but if you look at the prices 10 years ago, Macau’s property market values were a lot higher than the market price,” Shek said, “The prices were in fact quite low then considering the construction costs, land premiums, labour costs and all that. The prices we see today are actually at a reasonable level.”
Shek said that the recent low transaction rate in the property market was just an indication that it is going through an “adjustment period” rather than a slowdown because there are still developments, such as the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge and new tourism-related industries that are favourable to economic development.
Shek said the adjustment period would continue through the current quarter but with new property developments out next year, the market would thrive again.
Shek also pointed out that interest rate rises are unlikely to affect the local property market as the market is driven by supply and demand.
“Macau people’s purchasing power is still very strong,” Shek said, pointing out that residents are even investing in properties in Zhuhai including the neighbouring city’s Hengqin Island.
“These are not first-time home buyers, they are the ones who have extra money and believe in Hengqin’s prospects. They are investing in housing as a way to beat inflation,” Shek said.
Shek that even with the cancellation of a restricted property-purchasing scheme in Zhuhai and the possibility of extending the opening hours of the Zhuhai-Macau border checkpoints, Macau’s property market would not be affected.
(macaunews/macaupost)
