MACAO: Property transactions jumped 61.6 per cent in value last year, with the NAPA district spearheading the housing price surge.

A total of 18,623 property transactions worth 13.99 billion pataca were recorded last year, representing a 29.3 per cent hike over 2003, according to the Statistical and Census Service.

All these figures were indicative of investors' confidence in the property market, which has been on the rise due to various favourable factors.

Price rises have prompted some to sell their properties to take immediate profits, while others who predicted the growth to continue jumped on the purchase bandwagon, hence the swell in the number of transactions.

The thriving property market was epitomized in the NAPA district, where home-owners have been able to enjoy the first round of the price rise soon after the opening of the Sands casino in the Dynasty Plaza.

Figures released by Centaline (Macau) Property Agency showed that the prices of many new housing complexes last year went from strength to strength.

The flats in Edf Oceania, for instance, were first sold for about 1,000 pataca per square foot, which was already the highest in the district. Yet the prices leapt a further 170 per cent to 2,700 pataca by the end of the year.

Wan Yu Villas and Vista Magnifica in the same district also appreciated by 157 per cent and 131 per cent respectively.

The momentum has not stopped in the new year. Centaline's branch office in the district completed 25 transactions in January alone. Among them, a 2,090-foot unit in Vista Magnifica Court was sold for 4.2 million pataca, a very satisfactory price. There was one apartment which was sold within an hour after putting on sale. Another one was sold through the office twice - at 980 pataca per square foot the first time and 1,200 pataca the second time, a 22 per cent increase.

Property prices in NAPA have indeed reached very high levels, but Centaline believes that the upward swing has but only begun. Within this year, a number of massive building projects will be completed in the area, such as Sands, Wynn Resorts, and MetroGoldwynMayer. And Grand Lisboa and Emperor Entertainment Hotel will be located not far away. All these new attractions will definitely give home and shop prices in the area a shot in the arm.

At present, the district's residential flats are in the medium price range - about 1,300 pataca per square foot, while office prices, about 1,000 pataca per square foot, are at low levels. But when those new hotels and casinos fall into place and are beginning to boost human flows in the district, office and shop prices are bound to soar, probably by 100 to 150 per cent.

Since the district does not have any new office buildings, office space will be in great demand when the need suddenly appears in the foreseeable future.

(HK Edition 02/26/2005 page3)