The residential property market has fully emerged from its slump, with the monthly indicator flashing a “green” light this month after showing a “yellow-blue” light for nine months, the Chinese-language Housing Monthly reported yesterday.
“The green light flashed for the first time since May last year, which represents a market rebound in December back to a healthier level last seen around the presidential inauguration,” Nii Tzu-jung (倪子仁), an executive at the magazine, said by telephone yesterday.
The indicator’s score climbed 4 points month-on-month to 43 this month, the same as in May last year, Nii said.
Unless the score jumps to 53 or 63 points, which would indicate a “yellow-red” light or “red” light respectively, there are no signs that the market is overheating, he said.
The market began its downward decline in May last year and hit bottom in January, the report showed. Among the indicator’s six components, the supply of new homes reached 3,211 units nationwide this month, 62.5 percent up from last month’s 1,976 units, the report said.
The supply of new homes in Taipei County and Taoyuan County saw the biggest growth at 51.5 percent and 75 percent respectively to 1,306 and 1,370 units, which could trigger selling pressure to fuel price fluctuations, the report said.
An upswing in buying activity and competition has also cut down discounts for customers to average at 12 percent this month, down from 21 percent in the previous month, the report found.
The volume of new property projects also declined 9 percent month-on-month to a total value of NT$35.3 billion (US$1.09 billion) this month after local elections on Dec. 5 interrupted sales.
Meanwhile, the rental of Grade A offices in Taipei also reversed its decline to register a meager growth of 0.4 percent in the fourth quarter, averaging at a rental of NT$2,309 per ping (3.3m²), Savills Taiwan (第一太平戴維斯) said in a press release on Tuesday.
The rental of Grade A offices in the Xinyi district saw the biggest jump at 1.85 percent quarter-on-quarter to average at NT$2,710 per ping, although the vacancy rate in the district jumped to a high of 16.48 percent for the same period amid newly released office space.
The realtor said the rental of Grade A offices in Xinyi could continue to rise and top other areas in the next three years.
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