The nation’s top real-estate brokers have reported a sharp increase in the number of prospective home buyers this month as housing prices remained relatively stable.
In addition, a rally on the local stock market has temporarily eased concerns over economic uncertainty, giving the housing market an extra boost.
The number of people looking for homes has jumped 26 percent this month, compared with the Lunar New Year holiday, while online visits to homes for sale have risen 39 percent, according to Sinyi Realty Inc (信義房屋), the nation’s only listed real-estate broker.
“We have spotted a gradual, but steady, increase in the number of prospective home buyers after the holiday,” Sinyi head researcher Stanley Su (蘇啟榮) said in a report last week.
The increase in interest bodes well for the housing market toward the end of this month — when developers are scheduled to roll out their first batch of new housing projects this year, Su said.
He attributed recovering interest in housing to the rally on the local bourse and receding worries over default risks in the eurozone.
Stable housing prices have also provided a boost now that expectations of a fall in prices are receding three quarters after the introduction of the special levy on short-term housing transactions, Su said.
However, that greater interest would not necessarily translate into a major boost in transactions in the near future because buyers are making conservative offers while sellers are less inclined to make concessions.
The housing market is likely to see a sluggish recovery with stagnating prices for an extended period of time, he said.
H&B Realty (住商不動產), Taiwan’s largest real-estate broker by number of franchises, reported a pickup in sales of old apartments among middle-aged buyers.
“First-time buyers underpin housing transactions these days” after investors fled the market last year, chief H&B researcher Jessica Hsu (徐佳馨) said.
These buyers, who tend to be in their late 30s, prefer homes that are at least 20-years-old because they are more affordable and come with higher interior space ratios, Hsu said, based on an internal survey conducted between Feb. 1 and Thursday.
This trend is likely to be reinforced by limited supply as many sellers choose to hold onto their homes for at least two years to avoid having to pay the luxury tax, Hsu said.
Taiwan Realty Co (台灣房屋) said it saw an increasing number of people willing to purchase residences in Taoyuan and Hsinchu counties close to the high-speed railway.
“It is more cost-effective to pay the bullet-train fare than to own a house in Greater Taipei,” said Jhally Chiu, head of Taiwan Realty’s research department.
It would cost NT$2 million (US$67,636) to commute between Taipei and Hsinchu for 20 years by bullet train, which is insufficient to offset the housing price gap between the two districts, Chiu said.
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