The Monetary Authority of Macao (AMCM) today released figures for October that show a month-on-month rise in newly approved residential mortgages and commercial property loans. The outstanding balances for both types of lending declined compared to the previous month.
In October, newly approved residential mortgages by Macao banks increased by 4 percent month-on-month, totalling 1.18 billion patacas (US$147.5 million).
Residential mortgages approved for local residents accounted for 97.4 percent of the total, growing by 6.2 percent to 1.15 billion patacas (US$143.75 million). Loans to non-residents, however, saw a sharp decrease of 41.7 percent to 30.51 million patacas (US$3.81 million).
The monthly average of new residential mortgages approved between August and October stood at 1.04 billion patacas (US$130 million), an increase of 4.1 percent from the previous rolling three-month period.
[See more: Residential property price index falls by nearly 9 percent year on year]
New commercial property loans saw a 310.1 percent increase, albeit from a low base in September, reaching 845.71 million patacas (US$105.71 million)
Loans to residents made up the vast majority, at 98.8 percent of the total, rising by 305.1 percent to 835.41 million patacas (US$104.43 million). New commercial property loans to non-residents amounted to 10.30 million patacas (US$1.29 million)
The monthly average for new commercial property loans approved between August and October was 731.37 million patacas (US$91.42 million), up 34.4 percent from the preceding period.
Outstanding balances
As of the end of October, the overall outstanding value of residential mortgages fell by 0.3 percent month-on-month and 5.2 percent year-on-year to 208.13 billion patacas (US$26.02 billion).
Residential mortgages to residents, which represented 96.7 percent of the total, dropped by 0.2 percent. Loans to non-residents decreased by 0.5 percent.
[See more: Macao’s property sales and prices slump in the first half of November]
The outstanding value of commercial property loans reached 141.01 billion patacas (US$17.63 billion), a fall of 0.5 percent from the previous month and 7.3 percent from a year earlier. Outstanding commercial property loans to residents fell by 0.5 percent, and those to non-residents dropped by 0.4 percent month-on-month.
Meanwhile, the delinquency ratio for residential mortgages remained stable month-on-month at 3.8 percent but was up by 0.4 percentage points over the preceding year. The ratio for commercial property loans also remained unchanged from September at 5.6 percent, marking a 0.5 percentage point increase from the end of October 2024.
This article was drafted by AI before being reviewed by an editor.
