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Home buyers flock to sale

Since Monday, a swarm of prospective home buyers have been lining up in front of Taipei's public housing department, which is expected to begin selling 45 public housing units today.

"As of 3pm [yesterday], over 130 people have showed up to compete for [today's] sale of 45 houses, priced between NT$5.5 million and NT$8.6 million," Chiu Yuen-ching (邱婉清), an official in the department said yesterday.

To ensure fair competition, the department said that only buyers present in person are entitled to purchase the low-priced units built on government-owned land.

According to the department, eligible buyers, who must be aged over 20, may put down an initial deposit of NT$30,000 and pay in full within 30 days after signing the contract.

Chen Yun-ru (陳韻如), manager of the Public Relations and Research Department at Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房屋), lauded the housing deal as a bargain, despite the site's poor reputation for construction.

"The housing units' selling prices, on average, are 10 to 20 percent lower than those in neighboring communities," Chen said.

She added that the deal is attracting buyers not only because of the prices, which range between NT$150,000 to NT$200,000 per ping, but also because of the housing complex's location, which is near several shopping districts, including Sungshan and Shihlin.

Chen also agreed with the conclusions of a real-estate market report released by National Chengchi University on Tuesday. The report said that a property recovery is underway.

She said that the property market has been swiftly heating up since late last year, as a result of a better-than-expected global and local economic recovery, and the growth will be sustained until after next month's presidential elections.

Evertrust estimated that, compared to the second quarter last year, property prices may see 15 percent to 20 percent growth while property sales may see 50 percent to 60 percent growth by June.

According to the report, the nation's property price index rose to 91.9 point last quarter, a 2.96 percent growth from one quarter earlier.

"The property market has surely rebounded, and now is a good time to buy a house," Chang Chin-oh (張金顎), a real-estate economics professor at National Chengchi University, was quoted as saying on Tuesday.

He said that the property market in greater Taipei has seen a significant growth in two consecutive quarters, which signifies a solid recovery.

He also added that the real-estate recovery is expected to continue for another three quarters until late this year.

Despite property prices being on the rise in northern Taiwan, Chang said that the market in central and southern Taiwan remains flat.

As for newly-completed housing projects, Chang said that sustainable growth can be seen nationwide except in the Taoyuan and Hsinchu areas.

According to Chang, the number of new housing projects doubled in the fourth quarter of last year while a 37 percent growth was seen in Tainan's and Kaohsiung's metropolitan districts.
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