Real-estate developers yesterday painted a rosy outlook for the property market, downplaying the possible impact of political uncertainty haunting the nation's economy.
"We don't expect any profound or lasting impact on the property market as a result of the passage of China's `Anti-Secession' Law," Lai Cheng-i (賴正鎰), chairman of the Taiwan Construction Development Federation (台灣省建築開發公會), told a press gathering yesterday.
Lai was in a confident mood because the real-estate sector had learned a good lesson from past experience, such as the missile crisis in the Taiwan Strait in 1996.
"We did not see a decline in the volume of people visiting construction sites of pre-sale houses when there was political turmoil in the past," Lai said.
The government's present response, including that of President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) -- who yesterday warned of a "severe negative impact" on cross-strait relations -- and the planned demonstration on March 26 were inevitable political moves, which would be short-term phenomena, he added.
Retaining a bullish standpoint, Lai said a total of NT$140 billion (US$4.52 billion) in new houses is expected to hit the local market in the current quarter, up significantly by 58 percent from a year ago.
Lai attributed the market boom to rising commodity prices and a strong NT dollar against the greenback.
Low bank interest rates, lower tax rates in the land-value increment tax and abundant capital inflow were also cited as helping the sector recover.
The average sale price in the real-estate sector during the first quarter will rise between 10 and 20 percent this year from a year ago to reflect rising raw material prices, Lai said.
Sinyi Realty Co (信義房屋), the nation's largest real-estate company, said in a January report that property prices on average rose 11 percent last year on reduced land-value increment tax and investors taking advantage of low interest rates. The legislature in late January cut the land tax to boost the property market, which had been swamped by 1.2 million excess homes built during a real-estate boom in the 1980s.
Thus, Lai said, the prices for condominiums will be boosted to NT$120,000 or NT$130,000 per ping from NT$110,000 per ping a year earlier.
The momentum for mark-ups is expected to continue for the rest of the year, spurring the average sale price to NT$160,000 by year's end, Lai said, adding that home buyers in Taipei City may see upscale houses for sale in the market at NT$1 million per ping over the same period.
"This is the time for home buyers to make their purchase," Lai said.
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