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Property market continues slowdown

The local property market continued its slowdown last month with market watchers expressing mixed views about its future prospects, a statement released yesterday said.

Evertrust Rehouse’s (永慶房屋) survey found that residential property prices in the greater Taipei area saw a 10 percent month-on-month decline to average NT$267,000 (US$8,670) per ping (3.3m²) last month while trading volume dropped by 15 percent in the same period.

Benson Liao (廖本勝), president of the parent Evertrust Group, yesterday attributed the market’s slowdown to an poorly performing stock market and rising consumer prices, warning that it was a home buyer’s market, but not for speculative buyers seeking profit gains.

“Sellers need to revise their pricing before more deals will be closed,” he said over the phone yesterday, adding that “a lack of earnings growth is keeping home shoppers from buying.”

The real-estate agency expects to see the local market rebound “in the second half of this year when the global economy recovers and the nation’s cross-strait economic deregulation provides a real boost to the local economy,” company president Yeh Lin-chi (葉凌棋) was quoted as saying in a statement.

But Chang Chin-oh (張金鍔), professor of economics at National Chengchi University, was not as optimistic.

“We are experiencing a bear market, which may only hit the bottom and rebound in three to five years’ time, because it won’t be easy to increase income growth in the years to come,” he said over the telephone yesterday.

The real-estate index, co-compiled by Chang and Cathay Real Estate Development Co (國泰建設), the nation’s second largest developer, showed that the 30-day trading volume indicator saw a 23.49 percent year-on-year decline in the second quarter of this year to reach 412 points, although closing prices saw a 6.15 percent growth at the same time, to average NT$195,500 per ping nationwide in the second quarter.

On a quarterly basis, both closing prices and the 30-day trading volume indicator jumped by 2.53 percent and 28.05 percent respectively in the second quarter, Chang said.

In addition, Evertrust’s survey found that the property market in Taichung saw 30 percent month-on-month decline last month, although average prices remained steady.

The property market in Kaohsiung, however, appeared to benefit from investments made by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), and the launch of the city’s mass rapid transit system, seeing a 5 percent growth in sales last month, compared with June.

However, closing prices on property showed little change at an average NT$90,000 per ping, the company’s statement said.
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