The number of residential units sold last year was very low when compared with pre-pandemic figures, according to the Statistics and Census Service (also known by its Portuguese initials DSEC).
A total of 2,879 residential units were sold in 2023, for a collective sum of 18.30 billion patacas. By volume, the stamp duty record shows transactions were down by 65 percent compared with 2019. In terms of value, they were down by 64 percent. Just 70 more units were sold in 2023 than in 2022, when pandemic restrictions were in place.
Prices have also fallen. When compared to 2019, the average prices of residential units, office units and industrial units decreased by a respective 13, 18 and 14 percent, according to the DSEC.
[See more: ‘If Macao can be a 100 percent free market, confidence will be regained,’ says real estate expert]
In 2023, the average price per usable square metre came in at 93,500 patacas. Prices on the Macao peninsula declined by 3.4 percent, year-on-year, while prices on Taipa and Coloane went up by 5.6 and 1.3 percent, respectively.
In the fourth quarter of 2023, there were 525 residential units sold – a quarterly decrease of 103 units. Of the total, 86 were sold off the plan.
The average price of existing units fell by 3.6 percent between the third and fourth quarters, coming in at 89,259 patacas at the end of the year. The average price of pre-sale residential units plummeted by 24 percent, quarter-on-quarter, to come in at 108,645 patacas.
