The nation’s major real-estate brokers reported uneven improvement in property deals last month, as some sellers made greater concessions to facilitate transactions.
Sinyi Realty Inc (信義房屋), the nation’s only listed broker, said transactions last month picked up 8 percent nationwide on top of October sales, with the rebound most evident in the Greater Taipei area.
A noticeable correction in housing prices in Taipei and New Taipei City helped spur transactions, while the government has softened rhetoric about the market, Sinyi research manager Tseng Ching-der (曾敬德) said.
Housing transactions increased by double-digit percentage points in the two northern cities, whether compared with October or a year earlier, Sinyi data showed.
Policymakers have floated floor-to-area bonuses and tax cuts for urban renewal projects, both to enhance building safety and the economy.
Minister of Finance Sheu Yu-jer (許虞哲) told legislators yesterday that the government is mulling tax cuts for houses intended for self-occupancy after renewal as a measured effort to revive the market and deter price hikes.
Renewed houses have to bear higher taxes in line with their increased value, with the value possibly never be realized in the absence of a transaction, which is the case for people who have lived in the same house their entire life.
Additionally, the central government and local administrations have raised holding costs sharply in recent years through annual value reassessments. The practice, aimed at curbing speculation, has not only scared away investors, but also hurt people seeking to make purchases.
Luxury housing prices in Taipei slid 8.9 percent last quarter, making the capital the worst performer among 37 surveyed cities, international property broker Knight Frank said in a recent report.
Property trading fell 2.9 percent in Taoyuan and shrank 2.4 percent in Tainan, but increased 9.1 percent in Taichung and edged up 1.2 percent in Kaohsiung, Sinyi said.
Evertrust Rehouse (永慶房屋), the nation’s largest realtor by number of office, said property transfers grew mildly last month thanks to greater pricing flexibility on the part of sellers.
Home prices in Greater Taipei have dropped by more than 10 percent from their peak in 2014, giving buyers incentives to close deals, Evertrust spokesman Lin Tai-lung (林泰隆) said.
“People with real demand underpin the market these days and have the final say on housing prices,” said Lin, who reported an increase in demand of between 1 percent and 6 percent in different parts of Taiwan.
However, Taiwan Realty Co (台灣房屋) said transactions were flat last month from October.
The broker said Donald Trump’s win in the US presidential election raised uncertainty over global trade and drove people to turn cautious about property purchases.
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