Residential rental prices in Macao clocked a year-on-year increase in 2024, their first since 2019, according to new information from the Statistics and Census Service (known by its Portuguese initials, DSEC). Last year’s average rent across the city was 137 patacas (US$17.14) per usable square metre, up 3.9 percent compared with 2023.
A rise in the number of leases for units in large residential buildings drove the growth, according to DSEC. The average rents for homes in Coloane, the Macao Peninsula and Taipa increased by 5.6 percent, 3.8 percent and 3.4 percent respectively.
Over the past six years, residential rents have plummeted from a high of 163.2 patacas (US$20.42) per square metre on average in 2019. They hit a low of 131.4 patacas (US$16.44) per square metre in 2023.
[See more: High rents are forcing non-local students to seek flats outside of Macao]
On a quarterly basis, the final three months of 2024 saw residential rents go up by 0.7 percent compared with the previous quarter. This continued a gradual rise experienced throughout the year.
The city’s commercial spaces, meanwhile, experienced an overall year-on-year drop of 1.1 percent per square metre of usable area. The average rents for office units (293 patacas, or roughly US$36.70) and industrial units (123 patacas, about US$15.40) fell by 2.8 percent and 0.1 percent respectively.
The quarterly fall was 0.3 percent overall, with office units and industrial units going down by 0.8 percent and 0.2 percent respectively, quarter-on-quarter.
