The number of existing home transactions bounced back slightly last month from June but the figures represent a nearly 30 percent drop from levels seen a year ago, as price expectations have widened between sellers and buyers, brokers said yesterday.
There were a total of 17,643 housing transactions last month in the nation’s five major municipalities according to local government data, which is up 0.2 percent from June, but down 28 percent from a year earlier.
“The increasing difference in price expectations and tightened mortgage terms accounted for the sluggish market,” said Andy Huang (黃舒衛), a researcher at Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房屋), the nation’s largest broker by number of offices.
While some sellers were willing to adjust prices following a series of unfavorable policy measures, the modification was not sufficiently large or fast enough to attract buyers, Huang said, adding that the extended selective credit controls increased the difficulty of owning real estate.
In Taipei, transactions remained below 3,000 last month at 2,702, representing an 8.9 percent rise from June, but a decline of 33.2 percent from a year earlier, city government data showed.
Trading shrank 36.6 percent year-on-year to 5,115 units in New Taipei City last month, representing a 4.1 percent decline from one month earlier, official statistics showed.
The figures indicate that real estate is now a buyer’s market and sellers should be more flexible over price, if they seriously want to close a deal, Huang said.
The number of homes for sale grew 35 percent at Evertrust last quarter, compared with the same period last year, which is bad news for people looking to sell property, he said.
The market was soft in Taoyuan County with 3,558 units sold last month, a decline of 28.7 percent from a year earlier and 6 percent from the previous month the local government said.
The central bank’s credit tightening in June started to slow the market, Sinyi Realty Inc (信義房屋) said.
Transactions weakened 14.5 percent year-on-year in Greater Taichung to 4,445 units and 17.7 percent in Greater Tainan to 1,823 units, separate government data showed.
The figures suggested a respective rebound of 3.3 percent and 6.5 percent from one month earlier, thanks to relatively affordable housing prices, Sinyi said.
The market is likely to remain weak moving forward unless sellers are willing to make concessions, Huang said, as the government may announce more unfavorable policy measures.
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