The number of property transactions in the six special municipalities totaled 19,700 units last month, a 15 percent increase from the same period last year and 5 percent more than in June, prompting analysts yesterday to say that the recovery is continuing.
Taipei reported the biggest year-on-year increase at 37 percent, with 2,714 transfers, higher than 2,000 for the third consecutive month, the city government’s Web site said.
Relatively affordable houses in Zhongshan District (中山) and the completion of small apartments underpinned the fast pickup, Taiwan Realty Co (台灣房屋) spokeswoman Charlene Chang (張旭嵐) said.
Small apartments have become popular among home buyers and investors due to their lower entry requirements, Chang said, adding that such properties should continue to dominate the domestic housing market for the foreseeable future.
New Taipei City was second in terms of annual gains of housing deals at 31 percent with 5,537 deals, the municipality’s statistics showed.
Chang attributed the increase to developers wrapping up construction on some projects in Banciao District (板橋), lending support to property transactions.
Home buyers have demonstrated more willingness to close deals in the belief that the market might have bottomed out, Chang said, adding that price concessions by builders also helped facilitate transactions.
Taoyuan posted a moderate 3 percent advance from last year, with 3,307 deals, official data showed.
Transactions in Taichung grew 7 percent to 3,375 and Tainan saw an 18 percent jump to 1,810 units, while Kaohsiung was the exception with a mild decline of 1 percent to 2,925 units from a year earlier, official tallies showed.
Sinyi Realty Inc (信義房屋) said last month’s numbers reflected transactions in June, as it takes about one month to process paperwork.
The latest data confirmed that a recovery that is most likely to be sustained through the second half of the year, but the pace might decrease based on the month-on-month trend, Sinyi research manager Tseng Chin-der (曾敬德) said.
Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房屋) said that sellers are becoming increasingly inflexible over property prices, emboldened by improving transactions.
Most buyers would rather be patient and stay on the sidelines if sellers refuse to cut prices, Evertrust spokesman Jay Hsieh (謝志傑) said, adding that buyers have the upper hand.
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