The Macao authorities recorded 20, 022 real-estate sales and purchase contracts in 2005, a year-on-year rise of 7.5 percent, according to official statistics issued on Monday.

The figures from the Statistics and Census Service (SCS) indicated that the total estate contract value of the year stood at 16 billion patacas (2 billion U.S. dollars).

The sales and purchase of residential flats accounted for around two thirds of all property deals in the year, the figures showed.

The total value of mortgage credits granted in 2005 reached 17.13 billion patacas (2.14 billion U.S. dollars), a 10.1-percent dip over the previous year, according to the statistics.

Source: Xinhua