Around 30 percent of local real estate agencies have shut down over the past two years, Chong Siu Kin, president of the Association of Real Estate Sector of Macau, told the Times.
This figure has been estimated in accordance with the change in the number of members in the association. According to Chong, there are now approximately 500 members, after around 200 left, amongst other reasons, due to poor business.
Chong explained that the closings happened not only within small agencies, but were also seen among larger companies who operate franchise business models. He noted that around ten big real estate agencies, including those from Hong Kong operating in Macau, have closed some of their offices. Moreover, Chong commented that a few small sized agencies, “with one or two employees, had to close their business entirely,” further indicating that large companies are still running their business despite having closed some of their offices that were being rented.
According to Chong, the closures are mainly due to the weakened gaming industry, followed by poor property sales. “Policy constraints” that were issued by the government have also added to the burden.
Chong Siu Kin
Chong noted that more than 5,000 real estate agents were working in this industry last year – while the number of successfully completed transactions were less than the number of agents. “Only a few thousand transactions were made, each agent has not even accomplished one on average,” revealed Chong.
Chong stated that the industry has been declining, on average, by 30 percent annually for the past two years and in some cases reaching 50 percent.
When addressing the adverse situation that impacts upon all employees, Chong declared that older agents are keen to quit their jobs, while young people, who account for the vast majority of workers in local real estate agencies, move to other fields.
Earlier this week, a group of 20 former employees of the Buildings Agency visited the Labour Bureau asking for help, after their company had suddenly closed five offices and failed to pay all salaries that were due. Chong, however considers this incident to be an isolated case.
The Statistics and Census Service revealed that in the first quarter of 2016, a total of 1,928 building units and parking spaces were purchased, representing a quarterly 22.3 percent decrease. In turn, the average housing price was MOP72.955 per meter squared, a quarterly drop of 4.2 percent. Chong commented that the probability of a continuous housing price drop is small. Staff reporter
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