"It was her birthday, but she was not happy actually," Andy Kwok said with a gloomy expression. He took his girlfriend to a cheap restaurant to celebrate her birthday. "She said it was fine but I knew she was disappointed." Kwok is trying to save money for the property mortgage and he is stressful.

According to the Statistics and Census Service, there were 1,328 building units purchased and sold in the second quarter of 2018. Among them, some were property buyers with mortgage loans. For those young Macao people between 20 and 39 years old, they are suffering from the pain and stress caused by high housing prices and heavy mortgage payments.

Mortgage stress occurs when house owners spend more than 30% of their income to repay their house loans. It is more likely to occur when the house owner's living standard is beyond their means. Kwok is a 30-year-old youth who has paid mortgage for three years. "Even though I pay it together with my parents, I have to pay one third of my monthly income," Kwok said. "Sometimes I will cut out things like eating outside, which always makes my girlfriend grumble and I am losing face." For these youth, income does not change after the property purchase while expenses increase greatly. They could not handle it well and are in a high-stress financial environment.

More seriously, the financial stress can lead to health problems. Dora Leong is a 32-year-old officer who has paid mortgage for five years. She was so stressed that she had stomach trouble at the beginning of the repayment period. "At that time, I had to repay MOP5,000 monthly," She said. "I was seriously worried about the mortgage and saving money. I did not sleep well and eat well, which lead to the stomach trouble." For the young house owners, making mortgage repayments can be a big expenditure for income. It seems like a long and tortured journey.