The Macau New Chinese Youth Association (澳門中華新青年協會) announced in a statement yesterday that according to its recent survey most local youths think that the city’s housing prices are “unreasonable”, and that they think the “most difficult” part of buying a home is saving up for the down payment.
According to the statement, the survey was about “Macau youths’ housing expectations in 2021”, and it also asked the respondents for suggestions on “sandwich-class” housing.
“Sandwich-class” housing is a scheme for middle-income home buyers.
The statement was released during a press conference by the association about the survey’s findings.
The statement said the association hosted six group discussions last month to have in-depth conversations with 35 youths aged between 18 and 39. The statement noted the aim of the survey was to understand what local young people think about their current homes, their thoughts on purchasing real-estate property, what factors they consider before owning a home, and their views on the government’s housing policies.
The statement said that most young people think that Macau’s current housing prices are too high so that their salaries could never match the surging cost of buying and owning a home. The statement underlined that some of the respondents said that they need their family’s financial support in order to accumulate sufficient savings for their home down payment.
A down payment is a percentage of a home’s purchase price that one needs to pay up front when closing one’s mortgage.
However, the statement pointed out that even though Macau’s home prices are “unreasonable”, respondents still think that they would rather own a property than rent one. The statement added that especially for youths who want to start a family, they say that owning a home can bring security, stability and heritable assets.
The statement said that when asked, the respondents said would they want to fully own a property and finish paying their mortgage by the time they are 50, adding that they ideally want to only spend one-third of their income on paying their monthly mortgage instalments.
Meanwhile, the statement noted that most of the respondents do not have a good understanding of the government’s public housing policies. Whilst on the topic of sandwich-class housing, the respondents said they hoped that once the homes are ready, the government could solve young people’s housing problems. The statement added that local youths would like the government to release more information on its sandwich-class housing programme, such as prices, requirements, quality, facilities, and location.
The statement said that the association is urging the government to consider local youths’ concerns when launching housing policies or designing public housing units. The association also said that the government should pay close attention to the local housing demand and adjust public housing prices to meet demand by young people.
Members of the Macau New Chinese Youth Association present the findings of their survey about “Macau youths’ housing expectations in 2021” to the media yesterday. Photo courtesy of TDM
