Building companies have delayed launching presale projects, but put newly completed houses on the market as they seek to assimilate the impact of a new property tax, analysts said.
Developers and builders opting to stay on the sidelines saw the launch of presale projects limited to just NT$30 billion (US$960.6 million), Chinese-language Housing Monthly research manager Ho Shih-chang (何世昌) said.
Ho cited a planned apartment complex in New Taipei City’s Tucheng District (土城) as an example and attributed the delay to the recently passed income tax on property gains, which is due to go into effect in January next year.
Money spent on advertising property decreased 25 percent last month from May, as sales agencies demanded greater pricing flexibility, but builders and developers refused to concede, the report said.
“Advertising cannot significantly accelerate transactions in the absence of price adjustments, driving agencies to cut promotion costs,” Ho said.
A survey conducted by Sinyi Realty Inc (信義房屋) came to a similar observation with more than 50 percent of the respondents expecting home prices to fall going forward.
Only 32 percent of respondents plan to make purchases before the implementation of the new tax, suggesting a neutral reading of the levy and continued lackluster buying interest unless sellers lower prices further, the survey said.
The findings call into question the expectations of developers and brokers of a rebound toward the end of the year, Sinyi researcher Tseng Chin-der (曾進德) said.
Housing transactions tend to be weak in the third quarter, a traditionally low sales season for the property sector due to the impacts of typhoons and heavy rain, Tseng said.
Compared with the sluggish launch of presale projects, the market saw an influx of more than 1,800 newly completed houses in Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan, the highest level this year, Ho said.
Houses with price concessions of 5 percent to 10 percent proved to be attractive despite a decline in the number of prospective buyers, Ho said.
Small and relatively affordable housing near the train station in Sijhih (汐止) and MRT station in Zhonghe (中和) saw good sales, Ho said.
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