Taiwan’s major property brokers saw transactions contract or stall last month compared with November, bucking traditional sales patterns and expectations of a rebound in the wake of the Nov. 29 nine-in-one elections.
Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房屋), the nation’s largest broker by number of offices, reported a sales decline nationwide last month attributable to sustained weak sentiment, the company said in a statement.
Transactions shrank 23 percent in Greater Kaohsiung, as soaring home prices in recent years also started to weigh on transactions in the southern municipality, Evertrust researcher Andy Huang (黃舒衛) said. Relative affordability helped attract property funds to Kaohsiung from Taipei and New Taipei City, where steep price hikes have discouraged buyers, Huang said, adding that the trend displayed signs of a slowdown last month, especially in the popular Kaohsiung districts of Sanmin (三民), Gushan (鼓山) and Zuoying (左營).
Photo: Lin Yao-wen, Taipei Times
Housing prices rose 3.7 percent to NT$139,000 (US$4,382.37) per ping (3.3m2) last month, from NT$134,000 per ping in November, Evertrust said.
Pricing inflexibility on the part of sellers might continue to thwart the pace of trading, the broker said.
Likewise, transactions in Greater Taoyuan contracted 16 percent last month, as sellers raised price tags to reflect its upgrade to a municipality last month, but selective credit controls by the central bank drove buyers to the sidelines, Evertrust said.
The government’s plans to impose heavy taxes on property gains deepened cautious sentiment, Huang said.
Housing prices gained 2 percent to NT$150,000 per ping in Taoyuan last month, from NT$147,000 per ping, Evertrust said.
Sinyi Realty Inc (信義房屋), the nation’s only listed broker, also released its latest transaction statistics yesterday, showing that home transfers stalled last month from November last year, although prices were unchanged from December 2013.
“The month of December used to be a high season for existing home transactions, but the market put up a lackluster showing this year,” Sinyi researcher Tseng Chin-der (曾進德) said by telephone.
Last month, home prices averaged NT$676,000 per ping in Taipei, compared with NT$678,000 per ping in November and December 2013, according to Sinyi statistics.
Housing prices averaged NT$362,000 per ping last month in New Taipei City, compared with NT$365,000 per ping in November and NT$359,000 per ping in December 2013, the statistics showed.
Prices held relatively firm, although transactions last month dropped 13.8 percent in Taipei and 2.4 percent in New Taipei City, Tseng said.
Taiwan Realty Co (台灣房屋), another major broker, observed mixed results; namely sluggish trading in northern Taiwan, but a rebound in southern Taiwan.
Residents appeared less concerned about home price hikes or administrative changes, due to relative affordability, Taiwan Realty said.
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