Official figures show residential property loans surged by 142.1 percent in September, when compared with the month prior. That’s their first rise since June, when they were up by a comparatively small 17.1 percent, month-on-month.
According to the Monetary Authority of Macao, new residential mortgage loans totalled 3.05 billion patacas in September – up from 1.26 billion patacas in August. Commercial real estate loans also increased, by 8.4 percent, amounting to 1.03 billion for the month.
Banks granted three billion patacas of the residential mortgages to Macao residents, representing 98.4 percent of the total. More than 91 percent of the commercial loans total went to local enterprises.
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At the end of September, the outstanding value of residential loans was 220.17 billion patacas, down by 1.3 percent from August and by 5 percent year-on-year. The outstanding value of commercial loans – 153.07 billion patacas – rose by 0.1 percent month-on-month, and dropped by 4.7 percent year-on-year.
The delinquency ratio for residential mortgages dropped by 0.9 percent to hit 3.4 percent in September, up 2.6 percent year-on-year. The delinquency ratio for commercial loans was 5.2 percent in September, up by 1.4 percent month-on-month and by 3.2 percent when compared with a year ago.
The government lifted its property purchasing curbs back in April, in an attempt to invigorate the long-sluggish market. However, third quarter figures showed that property prices in the SAR dropped by a further 3.6 percent when compared to the second quarter – and 13.2 percent in a year-on-year comparison.
