Property developers plan to launch NT$146.4 billion (US$4.85 billion) worth of new construction projects in the May 20 sales season this year, a modest increase of 5.63 percent from the same period last year, as builders regain some confidence, the Chinese-language Housing Monthly magazine said yesterday.
The pickup followed nationwide property transactions rising more than 30 percent annually in the first quarter, Chinese-language Housing Monthly (住展雜誌) research manager Ho Shih-chang (何世昌) said by telephone.
He also attributed the increase to some builders postponing launches of presale projects from spring until now in the hopes of better prices.
The May 20 sales season starts today and runs through next month, Ho said, adding that rallies in the local bourse have lent further support to the recovery sentiment.
MAINSTREAM APPEAL
Most of the new projects are concentrated in New Taipei City, where developers unveiled NT$68.61 billion worth of presale projects in the Sinjhuang (新莊), Jhonghe (中和), Shijhih (汐止) and Banciao (板橋) districts, the magazine said.
Apartments between 15 ping and 30 ping (49.6m2 and 99.2m2) are to be the mainstream products, as developers continue to target first-time buyers and people with self-occupancy needs, Ho said, adding that none of the new units are larger than 90 ping or smaller than 15 ping.
Taipei is to see new construction projects totaling NT$24.76 billion, a 23.49 percent increase from the same period last year, the magazine said.
That figure does not include major luxury home projects, which have adopted a low-key marketing approach after becoming unpopular due to high holding costs and strict mortgage requirements that have scared away prospective buyers, Ho said.
Ho said he expects transactions to slow, as buyers have been demanding concessions of 10 percent, but developers have shown less willingness to budge, encouraged by the recovering economy and property market.
Sales in the spring sales season were mixed, he said.
“Projects that offered price concessions were twice as popular as those without any flexibility,” Ho said.
Transactions of existing homes last month fell 13 percent from March in the six special municipalities, as sellers grew increasingly stubborn, Ho said, adding that concessions remained the key to facilitating deals.
New construction projects totaled NT$30.39 billion in Taoyuan, where more than half are apartments of between 20 ping and 40 ping, in line with developers’ aim to court first-time buyers, the magazine said.
Hsinchu saw NT$13.35 billion of new construction projects, a significant decline from a year earlier, as developers seek to digest inventory on hand, it added.
Yilan County saw NT$5.8 billion of new construction projects, while Keelung had NT$3.45 billion, it said.
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