Public housing then…
Housing was one of the most topical subjects on the public agenda last year. The government has promised to build an additional 19,000 units of public housing before next year and has even seemed to hint that more homes would be built, allowing everyone to own an apartment.
Putting aside the political and ethical issues involved in housing in Macau, an analysis of the plausibility of the objective needs perspective.
This assessment takes into account statistics up to the end of 2009, the last year when complete details were available, and consequently these comments do not include any housing built last year.
By looking at the existing supply of social housing – which are meant to be leased to low-income families – a first feature of the housing debate is immediately apparent. The total number of units built until the end of 2009 stood at slightly more than 7,000, of which about 80 percent were built in the 1980s and 1990s. Only in 2009 was there again any meaningful activity to build more units – an effort that continued last year.
In this context, the government’s commitment is noteworthy as it represents a significant increase in the number of these types of units.
Note that Graph 1 serves for illustration purposes only, since the time scale on the x-axis has suffered significant adaptations. The same applies to Graph 2.
Similar comments could be made about the economic housing class, units meant to be sold at controlled prices. As Graph 2 illustrates, the current stock stands just above 24,000 units, of which more than 90 percent were built, again, in the 1980s and 1990s. Since the end of 2006, there hasn’t been any activity to build more units.
Apartments in Macau will often be listed as T0, T1, T2, T3 etc… This refers to the number of bedrooms.
The number of bedrooms in social and economic housing, as shown in Graph 3, seems to reflect the household and family composition in Macau or, at least, is a reasonable approach.

… and public housing now
Today’s social and economic conditions are vastly different from the situation that existed two or three decades ago. Unsurprisingly, the housing market has also changed markedly.
The total number of residential units has grown in the last six years by about 17,000 units to reach a grand total of 190,000. The increase in these last few years corresponds roughly to the total amount of units that are vacant.
Also note that, throughout the period, 8 to 10 percent of the housing stock has been consistently vacant.
The mix of public and private activity in housing can be gauged from the data provided in the housing surveys, although that data doesn’t directly match the one used in the previous graphs. Nevertheless, as highlighted in Graph 5 and as one might expect, most of the housing effort is carried commercially by private agents. Only in 2009 do we see a significant increase in the number of projects.
Looking at Graph 6, based on information from the census, we realise that the vast majority of Macau families – about three-quarters to be more precise – dwell in homes that they own or are provided to them by their employers. It could be implied that only about 40,000 home units are rented.
These somewhat disparate figures raise some interesting questions.
We live in times of economic boom, with rising wages and low unemployment, and low natural growth of the resident population. How do these features compare with the need for an increase in the stock of public housing by 19,000 units?
Further, what kind of analysis has been made to identify future needs and define adequate policies concerning construction of homes in the private sector? And what impact will this have on the residential market?

by José I. Duarte
Economist /Macau Business
Senior Analyst Data source: DSEC
Charts and graphics in our paper edition and MB online browseable