The housing turnover in Hsinchu County posted a strong year-on-year growth of more that 30 percent in the first half of the year, despite a slowdown in Taiwan’s overall housing market, making the county the country’s top performer, statistics released yesterday by the Ministry of the Interior show.
During the first six months of this year, transactions in the housing market dropped in number by 2 percent year-on-year to 211,011, with 14 out of the 23 counties and cities experiencing negative growth compared with the same period of last year, the statistics show.
Among the nine counties and cities that saw housing transactions increase, Hsinchu County topped the list with growth of more than 30 percent, followed by Taipei City, which recorded a rise of 9.1 percent.
Victor Chang (張欣民), a marketing consultant with Era Real Estate Taiwan (易而安不動產), noted that in the past, Hsinchu County was not an important local housing market, recording only 2,000 to 3,000 transactions per year and lagging far behind neighboring Hsinchu City.
However, housing transactions in Hsinchu County have exceeded those of Hsinchu City since 2004, following the development of areas surrounding the Hsinchu County government headquarters in Jhubei (竹北) and the construction of the high-speed rail system, which includes a stop in Jhubei, Chang said.
With the launch of the rail system significantly shortening the travel time to Taipei City and Taichung City, where housing prices are higher, many workers in high-tech companies in the Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區) in Hsinchu City have opted to reside in Jhubei, he said.
He predicted that housing transactions would remain brisk in Hsinchu County in the second half, with the transaction volume for the full year likely to surpass the 13,516 cases recorded in 2005 to hit a record high.
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