Developers and builders are launching construction projects with the highest value seen in the past 10 years for the coming lunar Ghost Month, buoyed by improved sales in the first half of the year, a report by Chinese-language Housing Monthly said.
New construction volume of both presale and newly completed projects in northern Taiwan stands at NT$180.9 billion (US$6.04 billion), the highest in a decade and up 19.8 percent from NT$150.9 billion during the same period last year, the magazine said.
Property sales over Ghost Month, which starts on Wednesday and lasts through Sept. 4, are an important indicator for the Moon Festival season in late September, magazine spokesman Ni Tze-jen (倪子仁) said in the report.
“The figures reflect continued confidence in the sector’s recovery on the part of developers and builders,” after property prices and trading volume rose markedly for two quarters in row, Ni said.
Greater Taichung-based Fu Yu Construction Co (富宇建設) has been the most aggressive, rolling out new construction projects worth NT$13.8 billion, followed by Taipei-based Farglory Land Development Co (遠雄建設) with NT$10.5 billion and Jimei Construction Co (吉美建設) with NT$10 billion, the report said.
Highwealth Construction Corp (興富發建設) is planning new projects worth NT$8.5 billion, while Taoyuan-based Taota Development Group (桃大建設) is launching developments worth NT$7 billion, the report said.
Most projects are concentrated in New Taipei City’s (新北市) Dan
shui (淡水) and Wuku (五股) districts, and Taoyuan County’s Jhongli (中壢) and Bade (八德) areas, the report said, as relatively affordable housing attracts people to relocate while improved public infrastructure makes commuting more practical.
There are three new housing projects planned in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投) with a price tag of more than NT$730,000 per ping (3.3m2), the report said.
The rosy sentiment came after new construction volume hit a record high of 20,998 units during the April-to-June period, rising nearly 20 percent from the previous quarter and a year earlier, according to a survey conducted last week by Cathay Real Estate Development Co (國泰建設) and National Chengchi University’s Taiwan Real Estate Research Center (台灣房地產中心).
Academics attributed the pick-up in confidence to the receding impact of unfavorable policy measures, notably the special sales levy that subjects houses resold within two years of purchase to taxes of up to 15 percent on trading prices.
In related developments, existing home sales in the nation’s five major metropolitan areas grew by double digit percentages last month from a month earlier in on the back of real demand, brokers said.
Home sales rose by 19.3 percent in Greater Kaohsiung, 17 percent in Greater Taichung and 12 percent in Greater Tainan, local government data showed.
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