The latest overall residential property price index is down 1.1 percent when compared with the period prior and 5.6 percent year-on-year, according to figures from the Statistics and Census Service (also known by its Portuguese initials DSEC). The November-January period also saw the index drop for a seventh three-month period in a row, DSEC noted.
Residential buildings built between 11 and 20 years ago fared the best; their index rose by 3 percent, on average. The index for those with floor areas greater than 100 square metres also went up, by 2.1 percent. However, indices for smaller flats in both older and younger buildings went down by between 0.9 and 2.5 percent.
Analysed by region, the index for the Macao peninsula was down 0.9 percent compared with the October-December period, while that for Taipa and Coloane dropped by 1.6 percent. The indices were down by 5.2 and 7.4 percent respectively, year-on-year.
[See more: Hong Kong scraps all property market cooling measures]
Last year, both the volume and value of residential sales in Macao plummeted to about 65 percent of the figures for 2019 – the last year before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Real estate experts at Jones Lang LaSalle said last month that a lack of confidence was behind the market’s lacklustre performance. The company’s general manager urged the government to remove all remaining cooling measures – as Hong Kong has just done – in order to spur sales.
“If Macao can be a 100 percent free market, the confidence will be regained, which will be beneficial for the market,” Oliver Tong said.
