Potential home buyers expect higher real estate prices and rental fees in the long term, but are divided on prospects in the near term, a housing demand survey released yesterday showed.
An index measuring confidence level in housing prices in the nation’s five major metropolitan areas scored 114.89 points, while confidence level in rental fees reached 103.9 points. With an index base of 100, scores higher than 100 indicate optimism over market prospects in the next six to 12 months.
“The confidence scores for both housing prices and rental fees in the five major metropolitan areas were higher than 100 points, indicating [more respondents expecting] higher price levels in the future,” said the Institute for Physical Planning and Information (國土規劃及不動產資訊中心), which conducted the survey.
The Taipei-based institute polled potential home buyers in the five major metropolitan areas — Taipei City, Taipei County, Taoyuan/Hsinchu counties and cities, Taichung County and City, as well as Kaohsiung County and City.
Among those polled, prospective buyers in Taipei City expected housing prices in the area to rise more than that in other areas, while respondents in Kaohsiung were less confident about price increases there, the institute said in a report posted on its Web site.
However, market view in the near term, or over the next six months, was mixed, the institute said, reflecting an uncertainty in the market with the economy just emerging from its worst slump.
Nationwide, housing costs in the first half of the year averaged 6.65 times buyers’ annual income, down from 7.1 times in the fourth quarter of last year, the report showed.
In Taipei City, the figure reached a high 8.89 times in the first half of the year, down from 10.2 in the fourth quarter, the institute said.
Mortgage spending consumed 27.69 percent of home buyers’ income in the first half, down from 29.68 percent in the fourth quarter, the report showed. The burden reached 33.56 percent for those in Taipei City, compared with 43 percent before.
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