Transactions of residential and commercial property in New Taipei City (新北市) for last month rose more than 30 percent from a month earlier, according to statistics released on Saturday by the city’s Land Administration Department.
Last month, housing transactions in New Taipei City hit 6,803 units, up about 32 percent from September, while transactions in certain districts of the city, including Yonghe District (永和) and Sindian District (新店), surged by more than 90 percent month-on-month.
“The strong rebound in property transactions shows that buyers were returning to the market after putting purchasing plans on hold during Ghost Month, which fell between Aug. 17 and Sept. 15 this year,” said Sinyi Realty Inc (信義房屋), one of Taiwan’s leading real-estate agencies.
Local consumers tend to postpone plans to buy big-ticket items such as cars and homes during Ghost Month, considered a bad time to make such purchases.
Sinyi Realty cited government statistics showing that housing transactions in the Sindian, Banciao (板橋) and Zhonghe (中和) districts exceeded 500 units each, while sales in Yonghe District almost doubled from a month earlier to hit 331 units.
Transactions in the city’s Tamsui District (淡水) totaled 1,092 units last month, up 78 percent from a month earlier.
Tseng Chin-der (曾敬德), a research manager with Sinyi Realty, said the impact from a new property price registration system that went into effect on Aug. 1 was fading, so that consumers were more willing to jump into the market.
Under the price registration system, the actual prices of property transactions should be reported to the Ministry of the Interior within 30 days of the completion of any transaction.
The government wants the new mechanism to improve transparency in the local property market and curb speculation this to put a cap on property prices.
Meanwhile, in Taipei City, housing transactions last month rose 3.4 percent from September to hit 2,890 units, according to Taipei City Government statistics.
Andy Huang (黃舒衛), a research manager with Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房屋), said that fears over inflationary pressure after a third round of quantitative easing launched by the US Federal Reserve in the middle of September, prompted local consumers to buy real estate to take on rising inflation.
Huang said that due to the convenient transport links between Taipei City and New Taipei City, more home buyers favor property in New Taipei, a development that is expected to further boost transactions in the city.
Taiwan Realty Co (台灣房屋) said that as the local property market has entered a peak season in the fourth quarter, home-buying interest is expected to grow until the end of this year.
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