Residential and commercial property prices in Taipei fell about 11 percent this year from 2014, reflecting the government’s effort to curb home prices, Sinyi Realty Inc (信義房屋) said.
Sinyi said that the average price of real estate in Taipei fell by about NT$74,000 (US$2,327) per ping (3.3m2) this year from 2014, when housing prices in the city hit a record high.
It said the average price of homes, shops and offices in the city is NT$606,000 per ping, down from NT$680,000 per ping in 2014.
This year’s figure is also the lowest since 2013, the agency said.
Tseng Ching-der (曾敬德), a research manager at Sinyi, said that buyers in Taipei can take advantage of falling housing prices and buy larger apartments.
For NT$20 million, homebuyers can now buy a home 3.5 ping larger than they would have bought for the same price in 2014, adding an extra small bedroom to the apartment, he said.
However, some analysts said the housing market is still overpriced and might be headed for a much bigger drop in the next few years due to the declining birth rate in Taiwan and the relatively small number of immigrants.
Tseng said that Taipei is not the only city among Taiwan’s six major cities that has seen home prices decline.
New Taipei City and Taoyuan also saw declines, while the markets in Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung appeared resilient, he said.
Average residential and commercial property prices in New Taipei City this year fell about 8 percent from 2014 to about NT$340,000 per ping, the agency said.
During the same period, average property prices in Taoyuan fell 7 percent to about NT$179,000 per ping; in Taichung, they fell about 2 percent to NT$191,000 per ping; in Kaohsiung, the prices fell 2 percent to NT$163,000 per ping and in Tainan, they fell 1 percent to NT$134,000 per ping, the company said.
Tseng said the data showed that the property markets outside the greater Taipei area remained relatively stable over the past two years due to their lower prices.
However, many people in those areas still cannot afford to buy a home because of low salaries and home prices having risen following years of speculation.
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