Realtor: housing regulations should be publicized to avoid disputes

Jeff Wong

The head of residential sales at Jones Lang LaSalle (Macau), Jeff Wong, argues that the government should be more open with the public on real estate regulations, in order to avoid major disputes like the Pearl Horizon controversy.
Earlier this week, flat-
owners criticized the government for failing to solve housing proprietors’ issues such as the increase in some property management services.
“I think the government can also do much more to consistently push the release of the information to the general public, and should put more effort into that. The government, I think, can also afford to release much more information regarding the expiry dates of those lands, which would then make people feel more confident when they buy apartments, especially in those pre-sale schemes, to avoid any misunderstanding or any potential argument between buyers and sellers in the future,” Wong said to TDM.
Meanwhile, the government has decided to remove the stamp duty on the re-sale of apartments as housing prices continue to decline (see box).
In a previous interview with the Times, Wong said that the stamp duty of 20 percent for residential property transactions is one of the measures that have been “successfully cooling the market,” and this has reduced the number of non-local buyers.
During the interview, Wong also noted that since the demand is still high in Macau, first time home buyers who cannot afford a house in Macau could consider moving to Hengqin or Zhuhai. “The major problem for Macau is the shortage of land for all kinds of facilities. Hengqin and Zhuhai are just behind us and there is plenty of land there,” he added.

property prices declining

The property market prices have been declining for the past months. According to the latest official data available, average housing prices experienced a year-on-year drop of 18.4 percent in November. Nevertheless, the Financial Services Bureau data indicates that the residential real estate market recorded a significant increase in property transactions.