MACAO, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- The total value of real estate transactions in Macao rose by 1.6 percent to 14.94 billion patacas (about 1.87 billion U.S. dollars) in the third quarter of 2020, the special administrative region (SAR)'s statistic service said Thursday.

The latest report from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) showed that a total of 2,542 building units and parking spaces were purchased and sold in the third quarter of 2020 as per stamp duty record, a decrease of 3.6 percent quarter-to-quarter.

The purchase and sale of residential units decreased by 70 quarter-to-quarter to 1,901 units, and the total value fell by 0.7 percent to 12.60 billion patacas (about 1.58 billion dollars).

The average price per square meter of residential units dropped by 1.1 percent quarter-to-quarter to 103,987 patacas (about 13,023 dollars).

The average prices per square meter of industrial units and office units decreased by 8.8 percent and 1.8 percent quarter-to-quarter to 47,742 patacas (about 5,979 dollars) and 110,244 patacas (about 13,806 dollars), respectively.

In the third quarter, there were 3,671 real estate purchase and sale contracts signed, and the number of properties involved rose by 52.1 percent quarter-to-quarter to 3,815.

Meanwhile, 3,434 mortgage contracts were signed, and the number of properties involved increased by 66.3 percent to 4,914.

As for construction in the private sector, there were 9,001 residential units in the design stage, 3,325 under construction and 1,121 under inspection by the end of the third quarter.

During the third quarter, 50 residential units were issued the construction permit and 41 residential units issued the licence of use.