MACAO, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- The overall residential property price index of Macao rose by 8.5 percent in 2018 year-on-year to 265.5, a slowdown from the 11.6 percent growth in 2017, the special administrative region's statistic service said here on Sunday.

The latest report from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the indices for existing residential units (285.0) and pre-sale residential units (274.2) increased by 8.9 percent and 11.5 percent respectively year-on-year in 2018.

In the fourth quarter of 2018, the overall residential property price index decreased by 0.6 percent over the previous period (September-November 2018) to 268.8. The indices for the Macao Peninsula (270.9), Taipa and Coloane (259.9) both fell by 0.6 percent.

Analyzed by quarter, the residential property price index in the fourth quarter (268.8) declined by 0.6 percent compared to the third quarter (270.4). The indices for existing residential units and pre-sale residential units fell by 0.7 percent and 1.4 percent respectively.

The indices for residential units with a usable floor area of less than 50 square meters and for those with an area between 50 and 74.9 square meters decreased by 2.3 percent and 1.5 percent respectively quarter-to-quarter, while the index for those with a floor area between 75 and 99.9 square meters increased by 1.2 percent.