The local property market, which declined amid the global financial crisis in the third quarter of last year, recently regained momentum following interest rate cuts and an increased appetite for investment, local real estate agencies said.
Sinyi Realty Co (信義房屋), the nation’s only listed property broker, said property transactions rose 10 percent in April from a month earlier as people now consider it more cost-efficient to own a house than rent one.
Sinyi senior researcher Stanley Su (蘇啟榮) said in a statement that while the cautious sentiment continued to dominate domestic property markets, some were willing to buy properties, encouraged by the low mortgage interest rates.
Homeowners drove the increase in housing transactions in April, Su said, adding that the series of rate cuts played a key role in slowing the slump in the real estate market.
Su said the easy monetary policy rendered real estate properties more attractive investment options than bank savings amid economic woes.
The improved sentiment also extended to commercial properties, with deals of rental-oriented property units worth NT$30 million or more jumping 30 percent in April from March, Sinyi said.
Su said excess capital and reasonable prices accounted for revived property trading.
A recent survey conducted by Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房屋) also showed that the investors’ appetite for real estate grew more than that for other investment options.
The survey showed that 54 percent of respondents ranked real estate properties as the least risky investment, followed by bank savings at 36 percent and insurance at 16 percent.
With annual interest rates for time savings dropping below 1 percent, 45 percent of workers expressed a willingness to allocate funds to properties, whose prices fell 20 percent from their height last year.
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