Home sales on the rise

Local property agency Ricacorp (Macau) Properties Ltd predicts the city’s housing market will be able to achieve over 10,000 transactions this year, with a growth of some five to 10 per cent in home prices.
Jane Liu, the managing director of the agency, said in a press briefing yesterday that the city’s housing market is expected to perform slightly better than last year, for which some 9,900 home transactions are expected to have been recorded, an increase of 72 per cent year-on-year.
“But we still hold a cautiously optimistic outlook for the city’s housing market,” said Ms. Liu.
The realtor expects the implementation of the free yacht travel scheme, the ability of Macau-licensed cars to drive in Hengqin, as well as the future opening of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge this year, will help stimulate the local home market.
But she added there might be some factors impacting negatively on the property market this year, such as the global economy possibly being affected by the inauguration of new U.S. president Donald J. Trump, China’s regulations on restricting property purchases in the Mainland, as well as the depreciation of the renminbi.
Nevertheless, Franky Fong, a regional director of the agency, added that the recent increase in U.S. interest rates would only have a mild impact on the local property market, given that the increase is minimal.
“The increase in interest rates in the U.S. is small and will not have much negative impact on the mortgage payments by local property buyers to the banks,” Mr. Fong said.

Demand for car parks
Asked about the impact of the recent increased transport fees on the car park market, Mr. Fong said some lessors of private parking spaces may be planning to slightly raise rental prices, but the increase will not happen in the short term.
“Since the leasing contracts usually last for at least one year, in the short term, general increases [in parking space prices] will not happen. But in the long term, when the current contracts end, the lessors may slightly increase the rents,” the agent claimed.
The agency said that they have started to receive more enquiries regarding car park leasing this month, following the implementation of the new transport fees.
According to the data provided by the agency, car park leases in Hac Sa Wan are the most expensive, costing some MOP3,000 (US$375) per month on average, with selling prices amounting to some MOP2 million.
Meanwhile, the average rental price for parking spaces in Taipa is around MOP2,200 per month, with selling prices at MOP1.6 million.

More supply needed
In general, Jennifer Un, a senior district director of the agency, claimed the performance of new property sales was good last year, adding there are still many local residents desiring to buy a new residential property this year.
But she indicated that new supply of large-size home units has decreased due to the gaming revenue slump lasting for a long period of time.
The agent, however, added that the city will start to see more launches of new home sales after Chinese New year at the end of this month.