Presale housing market in big slump

Bogged down by sluggish domestic economic development, Taiwan's presale housing market -- sales of housing units prior to their construction -- slumped heavily during the first quarter of the year.

A report released yesterday by the Federation of Taiwan Architecture and Investment Association (建築投資商業公會) said that the volume of presale housing units offered nationwide during the first three months was the lowest in 10 years.

Lai Cheng-yi (賴正鎰), president of the association, said only NT$20.77 billion worth of presale housing units was put on sale in the first quarter, a 45.8 percent drop over the same period last year. The first-quarter figure is also lower than the NT$28.4 billion worth of presales housing units offered in the last quarter of 2000, Lai added.

Regionally, the presale housing market has been hardest hit in Taipei County, Taichung City, Taichung County, Tainan City and Kaohsiung County, with these areas reporting over a 50 percent decline in the sales during the first quarter, Lai said. Kaohsiung County topped the list with a 93.3 percent reduction in sales.

Statistics show that developers have opted to steer clear of the presale housing market as unsold units continue to stack up as prices move southward.