Opinion Column

If you’re thinking of selling a property in Macau in the New Year or have colleagues or friends who may need advice with this, read on ….

‘Best Property Agency Consultancy, Macau’ 2023-2024.
Earlier this year I attended the International Property Awards for Asia Pacific in Bangkok to collect an award for Ambiente Properties; the five stars ‘Best Property Agency Consultancy, Macau’.  Around a thousand companies – winners, sponsors and supporters – participate in this annual event, gathering to celebrate the achievements of property professionals from the areas of architecture, interior design, real estate and property development operating in the Asia-Pacific market.

Lead Consulting approach
So what does this mean for those Ambiente’s clients who are currently looking to sell their properties in Macau?  “We pride ourselves in giving a personalized service, really getting to know our clients, understanding their needs and going the extra mile especially for those living overseas and last year we formalized this into our Lead Consulting approach” I explain. 

“This means that as Lead Consultant we are the sole point of contact between the seller and multiple partner agents across Macau; we have gained the experience and are well-positioned in managing and coordinating partner agents through giving them support, guidance and extra incentives that encourages them to bring potential buyers to the property being sold,” adds Ambiente’s business development manager Terence.  “We often need to ‘hand hold’ partner agents (most being young and inexperienced) in advising their buyers, delving into the pros and cons of each property, helping calculate interest rates and mortgage payments, potential capital gains versus placing funds on deposit.”

In summary, the purpose of Lead Consultancy is to:

• avoid misunderstanding or misleading market information being spread through the market.  All information is to come from a single point of contact. 
• manage the market sentiment and ensure that targeted buyers and partner agents are all in line with selling points and asking price.  As Lead Consultant Ambiente shares all our marketing information with partner agents – professionally made videos, quality photographs, and we assist partner agents in communicating information on the property to their clients.
• protect trusted partner agents’ efforts in advertising, and viewings, to prevent potential buyers going behind their backs to other agents. 
• screen unnecessary and ‘fishing’ enquiries. 
• update all interested parties to perpetuate the market buzz and ‘heat’.  When offers are received Ambiente updates all other interested parties and partner agents (without disclosing the offer details) and to see if we can achieve more favourable offers.
• appoint a single spokesperson to monitor and present your property at its best.  Macau is a small community where news spreads fast.  We share our resources, not simply limited to partner agents but to architects, lawyers and banks in order to make sure the whole sale process go smoothly.

One of Ambiente’s key markets is that of overseas sellers. Clients from Hawaii, Canada, Japan, Australia, Hong Kong, UK … we may not have the hance to meet in person but we become their trusted partner throughout the process of the sale to get the best terms for them. We handle all arrangements needed for our absent Sellers: we update them on the latest market intelligence and trends, the bank valuations on their properties, new policies coming into effect, the setting up of Powers of Attorney and escrow accounts, we often act for them as witnesses.

“We are matchmakers” I add, “we aim to match the property seller with the right buyer for their property. We try to find a buyer who will have the same appreciation for the property as did the current owner when they bought: For further details on Ambiente’s Lead Consultancy and how we can best help you as a Macau property seller, please contact one of the team.

Sad to say, at various times of the day, Macau is a transport nightmare for visitors and locals alike.

In the late afternoons when I drive past the Nam Wan taxi rank next to the BCM headquarters my heart sinks when I see the queues waiting for a taxi extending virtually the whole length of that block. Often either in the rain or in these searing summer temperatures, laden with shopping and suitcases and going to destinations that the public buses may not reach without a couple of changes … how on earth can we seriously be marketing ourselves to international visitors when we cant get our taxi system sorted? When it comes to getting around, especially between Macau city centre and Taipa/CoTai/Coloane and visa versa, Macau’s public transportation options are woefully inadequate.

For one short while some years back, Uber came to Macau. I’m a private car driver so it really doesn’t impact me, but it was clear that having the Uber service was a joy for visitors and for locals … the elderly and pregnant ladies trying to get around the city were especially grateful.

Its wonderful seeing visitor numbers going up and positively impacting our SME businesses, restaurants and retail. In July the Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (MGTO) reports that over 10,000 business travelers arrived to attend conferences. They end up spending money in local neighbourhoods. The authorities continue to push for more international ‘high-quality’ events in the city in a bid to expand sources of tourists from abroad. International arrivals include businesspeople from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, China and India. Imagine these visitors’ surprise when they learn that Macau doesn’t have an Uber (or similar like Grab, Gojek or Dic-Dic) taxi service. All these countries have such a service, why not Macau? So these poor souls have to join the lengthy taxi queues.

Vested interests apart, why cant Macau get its act together and offer such a service? Even if its made substantially more expensive than the 700 registered taxi cabs operating today, say an additional 20% tax added … at least it would give our visitors the choice, rather than standing in the rain and waiting at times over an hour for transportation.

In June this year Team Ambiente were the recipient of the International Property Awards 2023-2024 5-star Best Property Agency Consultancy, Macau. We traveled to Bangkok to join the IPA’s Asia Pacific conference where around 1000 companies – winners, sponsors and supporters – participate in this annual event, gathering to celebrate the achievements of property professionals operating in the Asia-Pacific market.

Participating companies come from the areas of architecture, interior design, real estate and property development. In addition to Ambiente receiving an award, managing director Suzanne Watkinson, was as a speaker on a discussion panel at the event. “It is always exciting to represent Macau on an international platform, because many people don’t know much about the Macau market, so it’s a pleasure to put Macau real estate on the map”, she notes.

“We are absolutely delighted to have received this award. IPA have a strict judging system so we were very happy to have received five stars,” says Suzanne.

Ambiente Properties has previously received three awards at this event, but this year the company won an award specifically related to consultancy services. “The years during Covid were very challenging.If you are considering selling your house, working with Sell My House AS IS, might help to expedite and simplify the process. They are going to take care of all the tasks that are associated with the transaction, such as the paperwork and inspections. Visit https://www.sellhouse-asis.com/tennessee/sell-my-house-as-is-murfreesboro-tn/. The first two years weren’t too bad, but in the third we saw a mass exodus of many of our expatriate clientele, including Portuguese”, Suzanne notes. “We made a transition between being a ‘classic’ real estate agency company, which purely leases and sells, and became more of a consultancy firm for our clients.  We are very comfortable with this change,” she adds. 

According to Suzanne, broker opinion appraisals and analysis of the real estate market in the city, with a focus on residential, retail, office and industrial sectors, are projects that the company has actually been doing for the past nine years as the local representative of CBRE Hong Kong.  CBRE Group is the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm and Ambiente provides support for their global clients’ real estate needs in Macau.

The word ‘staycation’ has become commonplace in Macau’s lexicon these days.  Then there’s ‘seacation’ for those keen enough to board a cruise ship and take to the seas.  And I even came across ‘hospication’ the other day when a friend was describing his last 2 weeks spent as an inmate of our local San Januario hospital.

But back to staycation … and here in Macau, when it comes to vacationing in one of our hotels, we’re spoiled for choice.  My partner and I have enjoyed the hospitality of the Parisian, then the MGM Cotai, the Wynn Palace, the Grand Lapa, Studio City, the Four Seasons and lately the Pousada de Coloane.  Such a range I know, but each one fun in their own way.  And in normal, non-Covid circumstances it would never occur to us to do this, but it’s a fabulous opportunity to get an inside view of the hospitality and gaming businesses that keep this town ticking. 

We go about our daily lives, driving to and from Macau and Coloane, past the glitzy glamorous buildings that line Cotai, and unless one works for one of the integrated resorts, you’d have little idea of what they look like inside – the guest rooms, the pool decks, the spas, even the restaurants.  Now having stayed in many, the experiences put meat on the bone so to speak … we have wonderful memories of the flying dolphins at MGM Cotai, the cable car circling Wynn Palace’s fountain at night, holed up during a typhoon in a super-comfortable Studio City room, or an early morning dip in one of the gorgeous Four Seasons pools, the list goes on. 

And it’s the people we meet on these staycations that’s important too; the diversity of cultures that make up the fabric of Macau society.  So eager to please, so willing to help.  Sure, one comes across a dud once in a while, but generally when it comes to Macau’s service standards and the progress made over the past decade, we can stand proud.

It’s so true that more often than not we don’t know as much about our own city as we may do about Singapore or Bangkok, Tokyo or Taipei.  With traveling so restricted we get a chance to explore our own country, rather than jet off elsewhere ….  Our twenty-two or so UNESCO World Heritage sites now have us as their captive audience and we should make the best of it.  The fascinating Mandarin’s House with its fusion of East and West architecture, the fabulous churches and the discoveries down historic little back streets and patios behind St. Paul’s.

And lately, coinciding with Macau’s three-day mass Covid testing, when the weather was humid and raining, cinemas, swimming pools and children’s’ entertainment were all closed … a treat: the much-awaited soft opening of Grand Lisboa Palace.  Attentive staff, beautifully dressed in their smart elegant uniforms.  Families strolling through the corridors of Macau’s newest hotel casino integrated resort exploring the shiny new space.  And the highlight – seven of Macau’s artist giants commissioned to produce two huge art installations each, now on display for us to feast our eyes on.  We’ve been back three times already!

So yes, though most of us yearn to travel beyond the confines of Macau, the staycation is as good a way as any to stay sane!

I’ve always been a big fan of the following saying by one of UK’s best remembered prime ministers, Winston Churchill.

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it’s the courage to continue that counts.”

At Ambiente we put this at the top of the orientation materials for our new joiners and stress that whilst of course we strive for success, on occasions we’re bound to hit roadblocks.

Let’s face it, everyone’s happy to receive positive feedback; compliments are great for one’s morale.  But the brickbats are equally important as the bouquets.  Otherwise, how can we expect to grow, to develop skills and knowledge, to build confidence and self-esteem?  As long as the job is approached with enthusiasm, professionalism and service with heart, in my book this goes a long way to balancing any failures.

Admitting an error often takes guts but, in the end, earns respect.   I recently had some wall shelving installed.  The 4 young men doing the installation clearly mis-measured and needed to drill additional unsightly holes in the wall to get the job done.   No one would man up.  I was getting cross. They tried a cover up tactic with me … the wall is not straight was one excuse.  Then one of the team admitted that yes, it was his mistake, he’d marked one of the bracket holes 1.5cms out of line.  I appreciated that he’d taken responsibility.  My annoyance eased and we worked together on fixing the problem.

We have at Ambiente a review process which we call ‘Lessons Learned’.  This can be a formal sit down of the team or a casual ‘water cooler’ chat.  At the end of each completed assignment, be it a sale, a purchase, a lease or one of our consultancy projects, we discuss what went well and what could have gone better.  Anecdotes are shared.  Solutions are suggested.

It’s interesting how empowering we’ve found this to be for individuals when they’re invited to contribute to a collective knowledge base of experiences and problem solving.

There’s another saying that also comes to mind, “What goes around comes around.”   You’ve probably experienced this yourselves, that fate has a quirky way of coming back to reward one if you’ve done your absolute best but were not able to complete a job successfully – or in the business of real estate to find a client what they are looking for at the time.  A referral maybe or later request for assistance.  Its karma!

And to come back to Winston Churchill, he’s right, success is not final.  Particularly in a service industry we are only as good as the last meal served, the last advice given, the last deal done.  The service cycle continues, we remain on our toes with the courage to keep going through lessons learned.

Talk around the dinner table these days will often include the subject of quarantine.

Yes, those 21 days locked away in isolation in a 450 square foot hotel room – a privilege afforded only returning Macau residents or HKID holders.  No doubt a sensible precaution during these Covid-crazy times.

Those of us who have not had the quarantine experience ourselves are curious.  Many questions: Which hotel did you choose and why? What were the costs, the process of arrival in Macau and check in procedures?  What was your view like? Were you allowed to open the windows?  Did you get fresh bedding and towels during the 3-weeks?

Conversation invariably turns to food; let’s face it, mealtimes must become the highlights of the day when being cooped up 24/7.  Comments vary from “absolutely disgusting” to “quite reasonable”, though the common thread is that most often the food arrives luke-warm at best and stone-cold at worst.  And if you’re a carbohydrate addict I gather you’re in for a treat!  To be fair, the hotels do try – in some cases quarantine meal times involves getting trays delivered to many hundreds of rooms at one time.  Slip ups can happen.  How’s this for a balanced meal experience: sweet and sour pork, sweet and sour prawns, rice and soup – and all cold.

Things have come a long way since the first batch of quaratin-ers back in July last year.  Meals can now be ordered a la carte in some hotels (though this is expensive), and better still, takeaway food, for dinner only, can be ordered from outside.  I’ve witnessed queues of delivery motorbikes, their helmeted drivers making their way to the hotel’s food delivery stations loaded with various plastic bags containing food and drink orders.  I even saw one delivering about 20 boxes of Lord Stow egg tarts.

Some hotels go the extra mile: every so often giving their inmates little gifts and handwritten poems, so charming and thoughtful.

How to combat the boredom?  We’ve heard the stories; joining an on-line dance or kung fu class, dyeing ones hair, experimenting with growing a beard, scheduling time to hand-wash clothes and once dry, carefully ironing every crease in them.  Anything to kill the time.   Among the 100 or so returnees from Europe on the specially arranged flight earlier this year, I gather that for some the days were made bearable by setting up a WhatsApp group and running little daily quiz and photo competitions.

And for those of us ‘outsiders’, we do our best to give encouragement and support to friends and family ‘inside’.  A microwave, perhaps an electric cooking pot to help get the food hot.  Cozy blankets from home.  A bunch of fresh flowers to mark successfully reaching the 14^th day milestone.  Little pleasures like a bottle of their favourite whisky, family photographs, some festive room decorations to mark a holiday.  Carboys of water for those who object to using the multitude of little water bottles that are provided by the case to each room.

Once their 21 days are done the survivors seem to emerge relatively unscathed, thrilled to be at last able to breathe fresh air …. so many complain of having felt foggy-minded, sluggish and slightly confused during the three weeks, this no doubt being due to a lack of oxygen in the room.  Yes, of course the hotel airconditioning systems are supposed to bring in new fresh air, but at what quantity to the amount of circulated air?  New fresh air intake costs money to chill … need I say more.

Survivors wear the experience like a Badge of Honor, respected for their fortitude by us outsiders.  Some brush it off casually.  Others are a bit more circumspect about the impact on their mental well-being saying that even after 3 weeks the outside feels so different, even alien.  Just 21 days in made them really think about the price for freedom.  Quarantine, they tell me, gave them a peep into the truly frightening horrors of what it must be like in jail, in solitary confinement, for years at an end.  Imagine, when released, being faced with the trauma of life outside, not knowing how to process one’s independence, how to apply for a job, to open a bank account, how to drive a car, to pay bills.

Yes, the freedom we take so for granted is indeed a blessing.

Written by Suzanne Watkinson. managing director of Ambiente Properties, for her regular “In Residence” section in the Macau Closer magazine

The old saying that cautions us to be careful for what we wish for keeps coming to mind.   “I wish I had more time off” is a common refrain, glibly said without thinking of the repercussions; sadly for many the wish may have come true with these days of un-paid leave, or worse, jobs lost completely. 

In late August this year the much anticipated, long-awaited sale opened of Shun Tak’s brand new residential tower on Hengqin Island.

426 apartments were up for grabs.  A mix of studios, 1 & 2 bedrooms ranging in size from 475 square feet to 1,345 square feet, gross.  Nice.  Perfect for a single, just married or starter family.

And guess how long it took for them apartments to be sold?

Twenty seconds!

How, you may ask?  And why are they so incredibly popular?

To answer your first question, the logistics of the sale went something like this.  Interested buyers had to pre-register in person, in Shun Tak’s Hengqin offices, within an assigned period in August.  This so that their identity could be verified.  And so that at the same time they could put down a RBM50,000 (HKD56,500) deposit.

In spite of the Covid-19 challenges of traveling, economic downturn and concerns about job security, the queues went out the door and down the corridor.

These eager buyers were given a purchase order with which they could then register on line.  Every registered account that enrolled was able to apply for up to three apartments, in order of priority.

Saturday 29 August, 1pm came and buying was opened on line.  Units were sold in 3 sections.  The first section was for the lowest floors, and these all went in 5 seconds.  Then the next highest section went, then the next.  All gone in less than half a minute!  Blink and you’d have missed it.

I bet the developers were kicking themselves; they could have easily sold at a higher price given such enthusiasm and pent up demand for a piece of Macau’s new front door – especially as the Shun Tak property is literally sitting at this so called front door – the newly opened lotus bridge border gate between Macau and Hengqin.  There again,  perhaps they thought to err on caution, given Covid, and besides, the sale price of RMB4,650 psf (HKD5,260 psf) was a good 15-20% above average sale prices across other Hengqin residential developments.

But when compared with Macau prices, Shun Tak’s Hengqin apartments are still substantially cheaper.  Our One Oasis, for example for a 2-bedroom unit is HKD7,200 psf and Nova Grand is going for around HKD10,000 psf, the latter being another Shun Tak developed project but in Macau.

In spite of being higher in price than other residential properties on Hengqin, the ‘Why Buy?’ answer is that these proud new owners of a Shun Tak Hengqin apartment are strong believers in the Hengqin Story.  Hengqin will eventually integrate with Macau giving Macau the space it needs to diversify its economy and become the ultimate family playground.  It will be like adding an Asian Orlando to Asia’s Las Vegas, creating Asia’s entertainment capital.   Critically, this entertainment capital has the added benefit of holding a monopoly on Chinese casino gambling.

Hengqin is to serve as a transportation hub for the western Pearl River Delta. National highways, bridges, rail lines, and airport links will all converge in Hengqin.  The border that Shun Tak’s property sits is sized to accommodate up to 80 million travelers.

Among Macau buyers the tremendous popularity of this particular sale – and we expect with other similar sales down the line – was that we now have 3 banks, BNU, ICBC and BOC that will give mortgage loans of up to 70% of the price of the property and importantly offer the extra service of transferring funds from Macau to the Hengqin developers’ bank accounts in Hengqin.

So these Shun Tak apartments should all in all turn out to be a good buy, even though services and infrastructure to the property are still in their infancy.  The building in which the apartments were sold is made up of a 230 room hotel from GF-18F,  a clubhouse on the 19/F, residences from 21-51/F and a 3 level shopping mall with car parks below.  The apartments are due to be ready for handover in Q3, 2021.

And as for the “Open Sale” process,  I can’t see it being limited to Shun Tak’s property.   Its success will likely mean it setting a new trend for the future, an enrolling system that will enhance transparency and convenience, providing a platform of fairness to potential buyers of new developments.

Questions are being posed within the field of architecture these days on what global impact Covid-19 is likely to have on our work and home lives.   In many societies around the world one is subjected to socially distanced self-isolation, shops are shuttered, offices are largely abandoned and urban centres are reduced to ghost towns.  Will pavements widen so we can keep our distance?  Will we no longer want to live so densely packed together, working in open-plan offices and cramming into lifts?  Will homes have to adapt to accommodate work?

From antibacterial brass doorknobs to broad, well ventilated boulevards, our cities and buildings have always been shaped by disease.  Since ancient Greek times streets were paved with flagstones largely to seal in what was widely thought to be poisonous vapours and disease emanated from the earth.  The cholera epidemic in 19^th century Britain influenced the modern street grid – introduction of sewage systems that required the roads above them to be wider and straighter.   The bubonic outbreak in 1855 changed the design of everything from drain pipes to door thresholds and building foundations in the war to eradicate the rat.

And the wipe-clean aesthetic of modernism was partly a result of tuberculosis with light flooded sanatoriums inspiring an era of white painted rooms, hygienic tiled bathrooms and the ubiquitous mid century recliner chair.  Form has always followed fear of infection just as much as function.

Design agencies are turning their creative energies to imagining ways buildings could help fight future epidemics, spanning everything from the layout of public spaces to surface coatings.

From the boom of multi-company sharing of office space when the co-working dream was sold on the very basis of social interaction – these days proximity may not be so appealing.  Are companies really going to continue putting their entire team in one place, mingling with other businesses?  Likewise is this the death-knell for the concept of co-living spaces, where kitchen-dining room-living room is shared between several tenants?

Wider corridors, more partitions, better ventilation and openable windows, more staircases suggests Arjun Kaicker once leader of Foster and Partners’ workplace team that influenced the gargantuan new HQs for Apple and Bloomberg, now with Zaha Hadid Architects head for analytics and insights.  “Everything has been about breaking down barriers between teams but I don’t think spaces will flow into each other so much anymore.”

Furniture may change too.  Office desks have shrunk over the years from 1.8 metres to 1.6 metres to now 1.4 metres but Kaicker believes we’ll see a reversal of this as people won’t want to sit so close together.

Will legislation mandate minimum area per person in offices and reduce maximum occupancy for lifts and larger offices to minimise overcrowding.  If so, there will be a big knock on effect on the skyline.  Will the sky-scraper survive if they are to become more expensive to build and be less efficient?  It may reduce the economic attractiveness to developers of building tall, and super-tall, offices and residential towers.

On the other hand, will the impact be on a reduced size of offices with working from home fast becoming the way of the future and equally will developers start providing specifically designed office spaces within the homes they build?

With 80% of infectious disease being transmitted by touching contaminated surfaces, especially steel and plastic, a hands-free environment is envisaged.  Futuristic offices are being designed around ‘contactless pathways’ – employees will rarely have to touch a surface with their hands to navigate through a building.  Lifts can be called by a smartphone avoiding the need to press a button.  Blinds, lighting, ventilation, even ordering a coffee could be controlled from your phone.  Motion sensors and facial recognition will automatically open office doors all with the focus of eliminating direct contact with communal services from street to workstation.

This coronavirus pandemic has turned social contact into the ultimate evil.  Density of cities is blamed for rapid spread of the disease.  After being cooped up for months, we’re likely to have a renewed interest in the value of urban green space as well as the public infrastructure of toilets, drinking fountains and handwashing facilities.

Coronavirus has exposed the effects of tourism; in tourist-reliant places like central Amsterdam, Paris, London, Madrid, where tourism has stopped and Airbnbs are empty, residents have had a rude awakening as they discover that they have no neighbourhoods.  And indeed here in Macau where we are reliant on 30 million tourists descending on us each year, our streets and squares, hotels, casinos and shops are empty.

As Oliver Wainwright writes so eloquently in the UK’s Guardian newspaper, global cities boosterism will take some blows.  He points to how the fluid network of metropolitan areas has been promoted but now there’s more of a sense of the city as a place of safety, home and refuge.   What about the much touted bringing together of cities within the Greater Bay Area.  Does Covid-19 present a warning against migration?  A warning against tourism and the inequality that causes labour migration on a temporary basis; a warning against the gig economy with its labour market prevalence of short term contracts and freelance as opposed to permanent jobs and the devastation of public services.   “There is something very clarifying about a pandemic,” says Wainwright, “you can see the absolute necessity of a public health service and a proper social welfare system.  It creates a very clear picture of what is good.”