Public in distress over price of new housing scheme proposed by Macau government

Prices for sandwich-class homes will be equal to that of private housing 

Earlier this week, the Macau government conducted a public consultation session tackling the proposed sandwich-class housing scheme that left most of the participants concerned, reported Macau Daily Times.

The proposal stated that house prices for the middle class will be equal to that of private houses, which means that it will now cost higher than subsidised housing units.

In response, the majority of people who participated expressed their disbelief, stating that they are unconvinced with the pricing strategy. Local Chinese media All About Macau revealed that several of them did not agree with how the government has assessed the prices against private housing units.

The participants are worried that the scheme would not be able to address the needs of middle-class families across the territory and it may even cause the prices for private homes to increase.

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Some of them suggested a more extensive pricing strategy that considers the purchasing power of consumers, as well as the costs of building.

As for how middle-income residents will be ranked to get a unit, most agreed to the scoring system, “in which the satisfaction of a criterion will earn certain points, and the higher the score, the higher the rank,” explained Macau Daily Times.

The public consultation for this type of scheme will run until 11th of December, led by the Regional Development Bureau and the Policy Studies, and assisted by an interdepartmental organ specially created for this matter.