New home construction fell 42 percent year-on-year to NT$157.8 billion (US$4.97 billion) in the second quarter as economic uncertainty at home and abroad weakened buying interest, a report by Cathay Real Estate Development Co (國泰建設) and National Chengchi University’s Taiwan Real Estate Research Center (台灣房地產中心) said.
The figure represents a 38 percent pickup from the first quarter, with builders and developers postponing sales until the May 20 government handover.
“Real demand underpinned the market after the central bank eased mortgage requirements in March,” the quarterly report said.
However, pervasive weak confidence and price fall expectations continued to stifle transactions, the report said.
Thirty-day sales averaged 8.7 percent during the April-to-June period, up slightly from 8.13 percent three months earlier, the report found.
However, price concessions averaged 18.51 percent, suggesting a large gap between buyers and suppliers on price, the report said.
Price differences were sharpest in Taipei at 21.77 percent, followed by 21.52 percent in New Taipei City and 18.57 percent in Taoyuan and Hsinchu, the report said.
Concession rates hovered at about 16.64 percent in Taichung and 17 percent in Tainan and Kaohsiung, the report said.
The finding ran counter to popular belief that housing prices are most resilient in Taipei due to stronger demand than elsewhere in Taiwan.
Average prices for new homes hit NT$717,200 per ping (3.31m2) in Taipei, supported by the introduction of luxury homes, the report said.
Prices were NT$380,900 per ping in New Taipei City, NT$202,300 per ping in Taoyuan and Hsinchu, NT$183,200 per ping in Taichung, NT$154,100 per ping in Tainan and NT$182,000 per ping in Kaohsiung, the report said.
Analysts said that the market would remain lethargic for an extended period of time due to soft economic fundamentals and probable tax hikes by the government.
The government plans to raise inheritance levies and adopt actual transaction rates to calculate property taxes, rather than the government-assessed values now used.
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