Builders and developers launched NT$216.6 billion (US$7.04 billion) of presale and new housing projects last quarter, a decline of nearly 40 percent from three months earlier, as the trade spat between the US and China took a toll on confidence, Cathay Real Estate Development Co (國泰建設) said in a survey released on Tuesday.
Political uncertainty at home over the Nov. 24 nine-in-one elections also weighed on the volume, although it is no longer a concern, the survey showed.
“The figure suggests the property market has yet to come out of the woods, even though housing prices were resilient in most parts of Taiwan,” the quarterly survey conducted by National Chengchi University’s Taiwan Real Estate Research Center (台灣房地產中心) showed.
Developers and builders preferred to stay on the sidelines ahead of the elections amid concern over a retreat in buying interest.
Candidates also tended to make unfavorable speeches against the property market during the campaign, as housing unaffordability remains a top public complaint.
Apartments accounted for 92 percent of the new offerings in the October-to-December period, with average selling prices nationwide standing at NT$13.37 million, or NT$268,100 per ping (3.3m2), the survey found.
That represented a 5.96 percent increase compared with three months earlier.
Presale and new apartments cost NT$811,500 per ping in Taipei, a 3 percent gain from the previous quarter, the survey showed.
The costs moderated to NT$371,900 per ping in New Taipei City, and NT$248,900 in Taoyuan and Hsinchu combined.
The 30-day sales rate slid 0.97 percentage points to 11.92 percent, while the room for bargaining shrank by 0.48 percentage points to 14.5 percent, the survey said.
Sales rates were highest in Kaohsiung at 17.19 percent, followed by Taipei at 14.04 percent and Taichung at 12.36 percent, the survey showed.
Compared with a year ago, last quarter’s NT$216.6 billion offerings increased 21.4 percent, it said.
The market might continue to consolidate this year, as the US-China trade dispute has led international research institutes to cut growth forecasts for the global economy, although the slowdown is easing the pressure on major central banks to hike interest rates, Cathay said.
The outlook is also mixed in Taiwan. A volatile stock market is weakening investment confidence, but the central bank is likely to maintain its accommodative monetary policy, it said.
The central bank has kept the rediscount rate unchanged for 10 straight quarters and might continue to do so to help support the economy, it said.
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