Franky Fong, president of the Macau Real Estate Agents Association, told Macau Daily News that the new measures are expected to stimulate residential property transactions, potentially leading to a 10-20 percent year-on-year rebound in sales volume next year.
“But the property market remains under pressure, making a short-term recovery in housing prices unlikely,” the newspaper quoted him as saying in a report published Tuesday. “At best, the new policies may only serve to stabilise prices and prevent further declines.”
As part of the 2026 Policy Address unveiled last week, the government announced that eligible residents purchasing residential properties will be exempt from stamp duty on the first MOP6 million (US$746,845) of the transaction value. Any amount exceeding that threshold will be taxed at 3 percent.
In a further move on Monday, the administration proposed increasing the loan-to-value ratio for residential mortgages from 70 percent to 80 percent. This would allow homebuyers to borrow up to 80 percent of a property’s value, easing the upfront financial burden for purchasers.
Both measures are expected to take effect alongside the 2026 fiscal budget, which comes into force at the beginning of next year.
Lacklustre market
Chong Siu Kin, president of the Real Estate Association of Macau, also believes the policies could provide some relief to the sluggish market.
“Some developers are expected to seize the policy window to launch new projects and accelerate cash flow, which may bring a mild rebound to the market,” he told Macau Daily News.
“But the property market has been weak for years, and these two measures alone are unlikely to fully stabilise prices,” he added. “We hope the government will continue to monitor market trends and introduce further supportive measures when needed.”
Amid prolonged economic uncertainty and recovery in the post-Covid landscape, as well as the restructuring of the local gaming industry, Macau scrapped all of its long-standing property cooling measures last year, a dramatic policy reversal after more than a decade of restrictions aimed at curbing speculation.
According to the latest official data, average home prices in Macau stood at MOP74,190 (US$9,234.7) per square metre in the third quarter of 2025 , down 14.3 percent year-on-year. However, prices rebounded by 7.7 percent from the second quarter, which marked the lowest level since 2013.
There were 955 residential transactions recorded between July and September, up 6.5 percent from the same period a year earlier, though still less than half the volume seen in 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic struck.
