Ponto Final Newspaper, 13 November 2020
Two real estate experts believe that Macau has the potential to grow as early as next year despite the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the local economy. Unlike other real estate companies that reduced operations in 2020, Suzanne Watkinson’s and Alex Cheng’s company reorganized and adapted to face a “busy” 2021 year.
The managing director and founder of Ambiente Properties, Suzanne Watkinson, believes that the Macau real estate sector has the potential to grow again as of 2021. “Worse than 2020 is impossible”, said the expert to the PONTO FINAL, before explaining why, in a year of great difficulties for the real estate sector, the company decided to expand the team of employees and move to an office twice the size.
“We went to an office twice as big because we will have twice as many people working. We are hiring new people, ”said Suzanne Watkinson, before reiterating her belief in improving the sector as of 2021.“ Double the team, more customers, and therefore more business. We must remain positive, 2021 cannot be worse than 2020 ”, she stressed.
According to data released by the Finance Bureau, the number of real estate transactions in Macau in the third quarter of 2020 decreased by 18% compared to the previous year, totaling around 1,765 transactions and the reduction in the average price per square meter to 100,750 patacas (9%).
Asked about the balance sheet in a year marked by the economic crisis triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic, the managing director of Ambiente Properties highlighted the sales of houses to first buyers. “Most of our turnover was sales, we had few leases because no one is entering or leaving [the territory]. Above all, sales were to first buyers. The housing crisis has softened the price per square meter by about 9% since the beginning of 2020. At the moment, the market is favorable for first buyers, namely in properties below 8 million [Hong Kong dollars]. ”
Alex Cheng, general manager of Ambiente Properties, assumed that “the transaction volume has been greatly reduced since the beginning of the year compared to 2019”. However, the economic crisis did not have a strong impact on Ambiente Properties’ operations. “The impact on the sector was quite small in our activity, it didn’t really affect us. We have some sales, for example, even last week we had a big sale. We have been in the market for a long time and that is why we are also approached for consultancy work “, indicated Suzanne Watkinson, stressing that the business of real estate companies is not limited to” opening doors to sell apartments or renting real estate “.
The specialist also recalled that the international partnership with CBRE gives Ambiente Properties another type of scope. “We are doing a lot of consulting and we work with international partners, we represent CBRE in Macau, so we take care of the needs of these global customers at the local level. If they need consultancy or market lease evaluation, these are big projects that give us a lot of work, ”said Suzanne Watkinson.
“It is more than opening the door and trying to rent a $ 10,000 property. We have to look far beyond that and, of course, we are looking at Hengqin, who has enormous potential in terms of retail space ”, added Alex Cheng.
Regarding the potential of the new landfill area in terms of housing, the two experts believe that it is an “interesting” project, but that details about several factors are lacking for a concise analysis. “To be honest, I don’t see the details of the Master Plan, we just have an overview of the planning, but when we look at the details, I don’t see any details to be given up. A business opportunity? It will depend on several factors, such as the type of infrastructure, the volume of the apartments, among others, ”said Alex Cheng.
For Suzanne Watkinson, the housing area in the area of the new landfills may even be “an interesting project” that will only materialize in two, three or five years. “Our focus on Macau has been going on for many years and we continue to believe in the potential for the city’s success, so we are expanding our team. I have a very pragmatic view of who will pay for the cup of coffee the moment we drink it. Of course, it is important to look to the future and the thousands of apartments that will be built in the area of new landfills in a few years, but we have to be a little more pragmatic if we want to keep a business alive and growing, and in this area the business is always now ”.
Translation from Portuguese to English by Google Translate
