As the nation's economy is fundamentally sound, consumer confidence is expected to recover after political uncertainties are gradually removed, an economist said yesterday.
"The consumer market will stabilize and people will develop more confidence in making purchases," said Shia Ben-chang (謝邦昌), professor of statistics and information science at Fu Jen Catholic University.
Consumer behavior always mirrors public expectations for political and social conditions, Shia said.
Crowds poured into department stores on Sunday, a day after the pan-blue camp's demonstration in front of the Presidential Office came to a peaceful end with only minor injuries reported.
The two major commercial rivals, Pacific Sogo Department Store (太平洋崇光百貨) and Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store (新光三越), both reported a surge in businesses over the weekend.
"Partly thanks to the fair weather, our store was packed with customers and business jumped by around 20 percent from the previous weekend," Sogo's sales promotion manager Hsu Shu-hsian (許淑賢) said.
As buyers streamed back, Shin Kong Mitsukoshi took advantage of the upcoming Children's Day on April 4 to offer promotions to boost customer traffic, said spokeswoman Shauna Lee (李香萩).
Meanwhile, housing brokerages felt relieved after the roller-coaster-like week rife with political uproar.
"A wave of prospective buyers turned up Sunday to hunt for new houses," said Victor Chang (張欣民), director of the Research and Development division at Sinyi Real Estate Inc (信義房屋).
Compared with last week, when the number of people inquiring about house purchases dropped by about 30 percent to 50 percent, the weekend showed some signs of recovery, Chang said.
"I believe this coming weekend will see a surge of interested buyers as the overall housing outlook remains rosy," he added.
As Chang believed the political impact was only short-lived given that Saturday's massive demonstration was ended peacefully, another brokerage, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房屋), was more conservative in its outlook.
"It will take around a month for the housing business to return to its normal level," said Chen Yun-ru (陳韻如), manager of the company's public relations and research department.
The political hubbub stemming from the March 20 presidential election has dealt a severe blow to the confidence of those seeking to change houses, Chen said.
"Eyeing the economic recovery shown in the latter half of last year, some middle-class workers had prepared to seize a golden opportunity, but now they have become more conservative and hesitant," she added.
Sophia Hu (胡佩蘭), executive officer of the Taipei Association of Real Estate Brokers (台北市不動產仲介經紀商業同業公會), shared Chen's reservations.
"As Taipei City residents tend to take more factors into consideration before making investments, a rebound in the housing market will not be seen so soon," she said.
Despite their mixed responses and forecasts, they agreed that consumers can keep their eyes open for bargains.
Before the election, some construction companies were considering raising housing prices to reflect price hikes on steel bars.
But as a result of political chaos, "they have put the proposal on the back burner in case patrons are scared away," Chang said.
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