MACAO, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Macao's overall average price of residential units in the fourth quarter of 2018 increased 3.8 percent quarter-to-quarter to 107,790 patacas (about 13,335 U.S. dollars) per square meter, the special administrative region's statistic service said on Thursday.

The latest report from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that in terms of average price per square meter of usable area, the average housing price in Taipa (114,680 patacas or 14,188 U.S. dollars) rose 16.6 percent, mainly due to a growth of 27.6 percentage points in the proportion of relatively high-priced pre-sale residential units transacted in that area.

The average price of residential units in Coloane (137,865 patacas or 17,056 dollars) went up 15.4 percent in the fourth quarter, while the price of those in the Macao Peninsula (99,860 patacas or 12,354 dollars) dropped 4.5 percent.

The average price of existing residential units fell 1.9 percent quarter-to-quarter to 97,725 patacas (about 12,090 dollars) per square meter. The average price of pre-sale residential units was 146,990 patacas (about 18,185 dollars) per square meter, up 1.6 percent quarter-to-quarter.

In the fourth quarter of 2018, there were 2,701 signed real estate purchase and sale contracts, and the number of properties involved (2,876) fell 31.3 percent quarter-to-quarter. Meanwhile, 2,838 mortgage contracts were signed, with the number of properties involved (3,407) dropping 34.4 percent.