Housing transactions rose 5.6 percent year-on-year to a five-year high of 1,443,788 units in the first half of this year, providing further signs that the market has gradually come out of the woods on the back of real demand, analysts said yesterday, citing government data.
The recovery might extend into the second half of the year, with the total number of transactions poised to exceed 280,000 units, Great Home Realty Co (大家房屋) head researcher Mandy Lang (郎美囡) said.
“Despite economic uncertainty at home and abroad, Taiwan’s property market fared well in the first half of the year, with improved buying interest and shortened negotiations,” Lang said.
First-half transactions chilled from 164,662 units in 2014 to 108,581 units in 2016 after the government introduced a series of unfavorable policies to rein in a property fever, Lang said, adding that it has improved since then, but the pace has been slow and less than evident.
Among major cities and counties, Hsinchu City reported the fastest growth of 25 percent with 4,343 deals, thanks to its proximity to the Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區), a critical driver of Taiwan’s electronics exports.
Moreover, property funds have flowed to Hsinchu to take advantage of high employment and high income among residents of the city, Lang said.
Nantou and Yunlin counties ranked second and third with an increase of 24.5 percent and 20.7 percent in deals over the period respectively, government data showed, aided by relative affordability and a low base of comparison.
Transactions in Kaohsiung picked up 20.1 percent to 19,684, the strongest among the six special municipalities, as the southern port city gains political and media attention following the election late last year of Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) in a long-standing stronghold of the Democratic Progressive Party.
Han has also won the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential nomination, which might further boost Kaohsiung’s visibility, analysts said.
Transactions grew 15.3 percent in Chiayi County and advanced 7 percent in Tainan and Taoyuan, the data showed.
Talks of capital repatriation by overseas Taiwanese businesses has lent support to market sentiment, H&B Realty Co (住商不動產) research director Jessica Hsu (徐佳馨) said, referring to firms returning from China to avoid Washington’s punitive tariffs on Chinese goods.
The government has received 98 applications from companies willing to relocate their manufacturing facilities back to Taiwan, with investment totaling NT$497.3 billion (US$16 billion), Ministry of Economic Affairs data showed.
Capital repatriation might also benefit upscale housing, apart from industrial land plots, Hsu said.
She said that she expects the presidential campaign to slow the recovery of the property market a bit, but added that it might not derail the positive trend.
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