Home prices hit year-high

After dropping in November, the average price for residential property soared by more than a third in December to hit a one-year high.
According to data released by the Financial Services Bureau (DSF) yesterday, 885 residential transactions were registered at an average price per square metre of MOP 53,254 in December.
This figure represents a 39 percent increase over the previous month and a 50 percent hike year-on-year, creating doubts over the impact of the government’s measures aimed at cooling the property market.
The jump is largely explained by the sale of three high-end residential properties, the DSF said. It was the first time the bureau made any comments concerning house transactions.
In Coloane transactions reached a staggering average price of MOP 95,981 per square metre – up by 70.8 percent from November – and an average area of 190 square metres. “Over 70 percent of the 15 transactions made involve the same residential project [luxury development One Oasis] and over half of the units are duplex,” DSF stressed.
In Taipa about half of the 243 transactions also involved a single residential project that was recently put up for sale, with the average price reaching MOP 56,806. Another development took up a third of the 627 deals concluded in Macau peninsula but the average price was at just MOP 48,155.
Despite the late flurry, local real estate agencies are expecting sales to plunge 10 to 15 percent this year, due to the uncertain international economy and to the new special stamp duty introduced by the Macau Government last year.
According to the new tax, owners who want to sell a residential unit or property under construction within the first year of buying will be required to pay an extra tax worth 20 percent of the transaction price. The levy will be reduced to 10 percent if the property is sold in the second year after it was acquired.
The expected construction of 19,000 public housing units by the end of this year and the uncertainty surrounding the international economy may also have an impact on business, Centaline’s regional sales manager Jacky Sek said earlier this month.