Average prices of residential properties nationwide have rebounded to their peak in May last year when President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) took office, with those in Taipei City having the largest increase of 25.9 percent this month compared with a year earlier, a local realtor said yesterday.
Taipei County and Taichung City followed with average annual increases of 22 percent and 16.8 percent respectively, Kevin Peng (彭培業), CEO of Taiwan Realty (台灣房屋), told a media briefing.
“Property prices in metropolitan districts have successfully weathered the recent financial tsunami,” he said, adding that more price increases are likely as ties with China become closer in the future.
Property prices in Taipei averaged NT$433,000 (US$13,400) per ping, up from NT$244,000 last December and NT$406,000 in May last year, while those in neighboring Taipei County also jumped to an average NT$211,000 per ping this month, up from NT$173,000 a year earlier and NT$198,000 in May last year.
In Taipei, property prices in Da-an (大安) district have seen the highest year-on-year increase of 41.2 percent, followed by those in Neihu (內湖) district at 36.8 percent, the realtor said.
Daan district saw the nation’s highest “misery index” of 35 for home buyers, which means the average house price there equals 35 years of a dual-income family’s total earnings, Peng said.
Prices in Kaohsiung City saw the smallest increase of 9.5 percent to an average NT$92,000 per ping, up from NT$84,000 a year earlier, but slightly lower than the NT$95,000 recorded in May last year.
Meanwhile, luxury properties in Taipei, priced above NT$30 million, also experienced a boom to post a more than 20 percent growth in both prices and sales in the past year, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房屋) said yesterday.
Those priced above NT$20 million in Banciao (板橋) and Sindian (新店), Taipei County, saw a 32 percent growth in sales this year, the realtor said in a press statement.
Luxury home prices in Taipei averaged NT$591,000 per ping this quarter, while those in Taipei County were an average NT$365,000 per ping, it added.
“Looking at next year, the luxury market will emerge from being a domestic demand-fueled market to embrace international buyers, including those from China” company adviser Greg Yeh (葉國華) said in the statement.
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