A heavyweight property group has urged the Macau government to further reduce the general down payment requirement for locals to 15 per cent, saying the property market has already bottomed out amid a perceived rebound.
The latest call to follow in the footsteps of mainland China comes from the Macau General Association of Real Estate. “The current property market in Macau is characterised by low risk and abundant options for buyers,” president Chong Sio Kin told the media on the sidelines of a group event on Tuesday.
“Properties are shifting from ‘weaker owners’ to ‘stronger owners’, leading to a reduction in systemic financial risks,” he pointed out.
Macau’s residential property market experienced a 2 per cent drop in its price index for the February-April period, indicating a cooling market sentiment. The current index value stands at 222, down from its peak of 265.9 in the same period in 2019 prior to the pandemic.
In the latest effort to stabilise the housing market in mainland China, authorities in first-tier cities such as Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen have changed policies on down payments and interest rates for first-time home buyers.
In Shanghai, first-time home buyers are now only required to put down 20 per cent of the value of the property.
Meanwhile, Guangzhou has lowered the minimum down payment for first-time buyers to 15 per cent and removed the minimum mortgage interest rate.
The ratio for second home purchases has been reduced to 25 per cent from 40 per cent.
Shenzhen also lowered the minimum down payment for first-time home buyers to 20 per cent, with a minimum interest rate of 3.5 per cent.
Here in Macau, a general loan-to-value ratio of 70 per cent has been in place since the beginning of the year.
All special stamp duties were abolished in April, including those levied on properties resold within 24 hours, those levied on purchases by non-residents and the 5 per cent tax on owners of two flats who buy more.
