Housing transactions in the nation’s six special municipalities last month fell 14.5 percent from July, as the lunar Ghost Month dampened buying interest, analysts said.
Housing sales in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung totaled 15,170 units last month, as prospective buyers shunned the market, Taiwan Realty Co (台灣房屋) said.
“While the month-on-month retreat is normal during this time of the year, expectations of a price fall exacerbated the situation,” Taiwan Realty analyst Yeh Li-ming (葉立敏) said.
Most Taiwanese avoid activities such as moving into a new house, starting a new business or getting married during the seventh month of the lunar calendar.
The number of property deals dropped 29.1 percent to 1,961 in Taipei last month and decreased 7 percent to 3,836 in New Taipei City, government data showed.
Taipei suffered the steepest decline partly because the completion of a presale project in Wanhua District (萬華) raised the base in July, Yeh said.
A high base also weighed on Taoyuan, where transactions fell 28.2 percent to 2,894 from one month earlier, according to government data.
The municipality saw robust property sales in July and previous months thanks to the completion of presale projects in Gueishan District (龜山).
The latest data deepened worries that sales for the whole year might fall to a new low — or below the 259,000 units posted in 2001 after the tech bubble crash, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房屋) said.
Housing transactions in the six municipalities stood at 115,401 units during the first eight months of the year, down 13.6 percent from a year earlier, the broker said.
Property sales dipped 5.2 percent to 2,809 units in Taichung and weakened 11.7 percent to 2,682 units in Kaohsiung, separate government reports said on their Web site.
Tainan proved to be the exception, posting a 5.3 percent gain from July to 1,569 units, the city government said, even though it suggested raising taxes on homeownership.
The market is likely to stay languid this month, in line with the low sales season, but might gradually recovery next quarter if sellers demonstrate more pricing flexibility, Evertrust spokesman Lin Tai-lung (林泰隆) said.
Sinyi Realty Inc (信義房屋), the nation’s only listed broker said the market is improving judging from the year-on-year comparison.
Year-to-date transactions returned to positive zone with a 2.9 percent increase last month from a year earlier, suggesting a gradual recovery in confidence, Sinyi researcher Tseng Ching-der (曾敬德) said.
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