Taiwan’s new home prices and transactions declined last quarter from three months earlier as more investors fled the market while prospective homebuyers stayed away, a quarterly report showed.
Pre-sales and prices of newly completed homes fell 4.83 percent nationwide in the third quarter to NT$248,000 (US$8,489) per ping (3.3m2), while trading volume fell 40.07 percent, according to a joint report by Cathay Real Estate Development Co (國泰建設) and National Chengchi University’s Taiwan Real Estate Research Center.
The much-anticipated price correction came after the government instituted the home price registration measure on Aug. 1, and banks raised mortgage rates and cut loans for luxury homes.
“The downward revision will deepen going forward and spread to the existing home segment because the registration measure reduces room for price manipulation,” National Chengchi University land economics professor Chang Chin-oh (張金鶚) said.
The report showed new home prices in New Taipei City (新北市) had dropped 12.64 percent last quarter to NT$349,500 per ping from the second quarter as developers cut prices to facilitate transactions, but with limited success.
New house prices in Taipei fared better last quarter, up 0.4 percent overall to NT$728,700 per ping from three months earlier, but luxury home prices declined 4.4 percent to NT$948,300 per ping, the report said.
Chang linked the falls to restrictions on credit for luxury homes as the number of new builds in the capital dropped 43.2 percent last quarter to 718 units. Sales fell 62.9 percent to NT$37.7 billion.
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