Home prices in Taipei fell 4.8 percent on average last year, underperforming the 4.4 percent average increase seen in 165 cities worldwide, a survey conducted by property market consulting firm REPro Knight Frank said.
The fall in home prices in Taipei resulted from years of government efforts to prevent skyrocketing home values from spinning out of control, the firm said.
Compared with a recent peak in the second quarter of 2014, home prices in Taipei fell 7.2 percent at the end of last year.
The price plunge in Taipei placed the city in 158th place among the 165 cities in the survey, the firm said.
Andy Huang (黃舒衛), a deputy director of REPro Knight Frank’s research department, said that Taiwanese investors, instead of foreign investors, have been the major buying force in the nation’s property market since foreign investors are faced with a heavier tax burden after a tax reform act took effect on Jan. 1.
However, many local buyers have been waiting for home prices in Taipei to tilt toward an equilibrium which is acceptable not only to buyers, but also sellers.
Elsewhere in the world, home prices in Shenzhen, China, rose 47.5 percent on average last year, the largest spike among the 165 cities, ahead of Auckland, New Zealand, with a 25.4 percent hike, Istanbul, Turkey, with a 25 percent rise, Sydney with a 19.9 percent increase and Shanghai with an 18.2 percent surge, the survey showed.
Izmir, Turkey, came in sixth, witnessing its home prices rise 16.5 percent last year ahead of Budapest’s 16.3 percent increase, Stockholm’s 15.6 percent rise, Gothenburg’s 14.4 percent increase and Vancouver’s 12.9 percent gain, the survey showed.
Meanwhile, home prices in London rose 11.4 percent and home values in Tokyo grew about 5 percent on average last year, REPro Knight Frank said.
The firm said that home prices in the Middle East rose 12.4 percent on average last year, the highest growth among the regions in the world, ahead of an 8.8 percent increase in Africa, a 6.7 percent rise in Australia, a 5.4 percent hike in North America and a 3.7 percent increase in the Asia-Pacific region.
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