Nearby island outshines Macau’s residential market

Stiff competition from Hengqin attributed to new project sales throughout the year 

Residential property sales in Macau dropped in the past few months due to stiff competition from nearby island, Hengqin in Zhuhai, China, reported Macau Daily Times, citing data from Centaline Property (Macau) real estate company. 

Based on the statistics from the third quarter, the volume of residential property deals in Macau declined since the region did not launch new projects, which is why most buyers opted for Hengqin where several housing projects are up for sale.  

Another draw that prompted investors is the opening of the new Hengqin Port and Hengqin train station.  

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“The market’s attention was drawn to Hengqin, thus local residential property sales [in Macau] were rather quiet,” said a Centaline representative. 

Home sales for July and August were 654 and 532 respectively. He said they expect the volume to drop even further in September, propelling the third quarter’s total estimated sales volume to 1,600. Fortunately in the same period, home prices remained stable. 

Their findings also revealed that around one-third or 34 percent of Macau residents were the largest group of buyers in Hengqin, which led the island to experience a record high of online home sales. Residents of Guangdong province accounted for the second-largest group of buyers at 18 percent.