Lau Si Io acknowledges risk of housing bubble

The Secretary for Transportation and Public Works, Lau Si Io, has said that the government is monitoring the housing market, and also acknowledged the risk that a “housing bubble” may develop in Macau.
After attending a Legislative Assembly meeting, the secretary told the media that the government’s policies on the property market are effective, and that conditions have been stabilized. He did not rule out the possibility of announcing further market adjustment measures, but stressed that a decision on the implementation of policies cannot be based solely on data compiled over a month or two.
“I cannot say whether [the current housing market] is in a bad condition or not… Everybody can see that the figures are changing constantly. In last month’s data, you can see that the [transaction] numbers, and prices, have both dropped, [but] sometimes they rose again. Therefore, we cannot only look at data [pertaining to a single] month.”
When asked whether or not the government plans to roll out further adjustment measures, the secretary said that the relevant authorities are still observing the situation. He added that the administration has already come up with a number of ideas. However, Lau Si Io said that these “swift measures” cannot be released to the public or they will not achieve the predicted results.
In an International Monetary Fund (IMF) Staff Report on Macau, the organization warned that “a sharp correction” might be needed in Macau’s property market. JPL