Macao reported a sluggish 176 residential property transactions last month, down by almost 35 percent in comparison to January’s total of 270.
Stamp duty data from the Finance Bureau shows that Coloane experienced the sharpest drop in property sales, with its transaction rate falling by around 84 percent – from 85 in January to 14 in February.
The peninsula and Taipa also saw their sales plummet, with the former’s total of 126 properties representing a decrease of 13 percent against January. Taipa’s transaction total of 36, meanwhile, marked a 10 percent drop month-on-month.
In contrast, the February data for Macao’s average residential property prices per square metre was more promising, with its total of 76,243 patacas equivalent to an increase of 6 percent against January’s 71,917 patacas.
The upward trend was present across all three districts. Coloane experienced the greatest boost, with a property price of 83,571 patacas, an increase of around 10 percent month-on-month.
In second place was the peninsula whose price grew by nearly 9 percent to 72,986 patacas. Prices in Taipa, meanwhile, jumped by almost 5 percent, totalling 82,471 patacas.
[See more: Commercial property loans more than doubled in January, month-on-month]
The ailing state of Macao’s real estate sector has been highlighted by prominent realtors in recent months.
In February, the head of the Macau Real Estate Development Association, Peter Lok Wai Tak, gave an unfavourable assessment of the SAR’s property sector, telling reporters that he was “not optimistic” due to factors such as the weak world economy, Sino-US trade tensions and the sluggish rebound of small and medium-sized enterprises.
Similarly, Ung Choi Kun, the chair of the Association of Property Agents and Realty Developers of Macau, voiced similar sentiments, urging the government to implement measures to alleviate the property market, which was conducting business “in an unfavourable environment.”
Buyers are remaining cautious as well, with Hugo Maia Bandeira, founding partner at Macao-based CFB Lawyers, pointing out last month that investors are uncertain if the market has hit rock-bottom and “if an upward trend is on the horizon.”
On the flipside, some realtors, including Jimmy Lo and Pun Chi Meng of Centaline, have remained cautiously optimistic, telling media outlets that they believe initiatives such as the multiple-entry permit for Zhuhai and Hengqin residents and bank increases in loan-to-value ratio would help to bolster the sector.
