Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房屋) yesterday reported more than 30 percent month-on-month growth in sales of luxury residential properties in greater Taipei last month, adding that the sales hit a 21-month high.
“Sales of [our] luxury properties [in December] saw a limited impact from the central bank’s earlier warning that the upscale market may be overheating,” Greg Yeh (葉國華), an adviser to the realtor, said by phone yesterday.
In Taipei, the realtor’s sales of top-tier luxury homes in Da-an (大安), Zhongzheng (中正), Xinyi (信義), Dazhi (大直) and Tianmu (天母) districts worth more than NT$30 million (US$940 million) per unit grew 36.5 percent month-on-month last month, with closing prices climbing 5.2 percent to average at a record-high NT$728,000 per ping, the realtor said in a statement.
Sales of second-tier luxury homes in the city jumped 30.5 percent from November, although their closing prices experienced a meager decline of 3.3 percent at the same time to average NT$546,000 per ping, the statement said.
“The government’s decision to levy taxes on luxury properties may have scared away some buyers of second-tier properties,” the realtor said, adding that the central bank’s curb on the sector may have driven down the prices.
“But in general, the move will improve the health of the nation’s property market,” the realtor said.
Meanwhile, the realtor’s sales of luxury homes in Taipei County’s Sindian (新店), Yonghe (永和), Jhonghe (中和) and Banciao (板橋) worth more than NT$20 million per unit grew 36.3 percent, with closing prices averaging a record-high NT$398,000 per ping, representing 4.3 percent growth.
Banking on the government’s closer ties with China, the nation’s upscale property market is expected to see a further boom in the near future with business owners at home and from China seen as potential buyers, Yeh said.
The segment’s price hikes, however, may slow down while the price discrepancy between top-tier luxury homes with a good location and their second-tier peers may widen, he said.
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