Taipei was ranked the second-worst performer in residential property prices in the world this year with an 8.2 percent decline, bucking an average increase of 4.5 percent in a survey of 150 cities, international property consultancy Knight Frank LLP said in a report yesterday.
Taipei was second to Aberdeen, Scotland, where housing prices fell by 11.3 percent, the survey found.
“Expectations of price declines and property tax hikes dampen buying interest, and the weak sentiment might persist due to a tepid economy at home and rising policy uncertainty abroad after the UK in June voted to leave the EU,” Knight Frank Taiwan researcher Andy Huang (黃舒衛) said.
Price corrections hit Hong Kong and Singapore, where property prices fell by 5.09 percent and 3.1 percent respectively, the survey said, as authorities introduced measures to cool transactions and rein in runaway prices.
Property prices rose in 74 percent of the surveyed cities, led by China’s Shenzhen with a 62.5 percent increase, the report said, as the city gains importance as a regional technology and commercial hub.
Chinese cities accounted for four of the world’s top five cities where property prices increased the most, with Shanghai taking second place with a 30.5 percent increase, Nanjing with 17.8 percent and Beijing with 17.6 percent, the survey found.
If left unchecked, the rapid pace of growth might raise concerns over a market bubble and unaffordability, the report said.
In Taiwan, real demand is expected to underpin the market, where buyers have the upper hand, but foreign buyers would stay away due to heavy property taxes and residency restrictions, Huang said.
Greater price concessions are necessary to facilitate transactions of residential and commercial properties, whether new or old, he said.
Listless trading might put 3,000 real-estate brokers out of business this year, cutting the total number by about half from about 7,000, Evertrust Rehouse Group (永慶房產集團) chairman Sun Ching-yu (孫慶餘) told a public function on Wednesday.
Evertrust plans to slow its pace of development as its different brands account for 29 percent of the market by number of offices, Sun said, adding that transactions might plunge to a record low this year.
Transactions totaled 108,000 units nationwide in the first half of this year and might not improve much, Sun said, adding that 1,300 brokers opted out last year.
Knight Frank Asia-Pacific head researcher Nicholas Holt said it is too early to talk about the effects of Brexit, but the supremacy of London as an international hub might not disappear any time soon.
Housing prices might remain steady in central London in the coming 12 months, compared with expectations of modest hikes prior to the referendum, Holt told an audience in Taipei.
“Brexit may spell challenges and opportunities for London, which can learn from Singapore, that grew more creative and innovative after separating from Malaysia,” Holt said.
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