Housing transactions rose 20 percent month-on-month in the six special municipalities last month as buying interest picked up, bucking an historic trend ahead of national elections, brokers said.
Property transfers totaled 21,453 units in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung, consistent with a survey showing a recovery in durable goods purchases, Evertrust Rehouse Group (永慶房產集團) said.
The survey on consumer confidence by National Central University showed that real-estate buying interest soared to a 51-month high last month, partly due to capital repatriation as companies move back to Taiwan from China.
Taichung posted the fastest increase of 44.9 percent to 4,563 deals, supported by the completion of a presale complex near an industrial park, Evertrust Rehouse spokesman Jay Hsieh (謝志傑) said.
Taoyuan was second with 3,767 transactions, a 17.3 percent month-on-month advance. Improved infrastructure facilities and relative affordability continued to attract people to Taoyuan, Hsieh said.
Transactions increased 17.8 percent to 2,089 in Tainan and grew 16.1 percent to 3,088 in Kaohsiung, local government data showed.
H&B Business Group (住商不動產) said it has seen a noticeable improvement in sentiment this year.
The Jan. 12 presidential and legislative elections have had very limited impact on buying interest, H&B head researcher Jessica Hsu (徐佳馨) said.
The number of transactions rose 13 percent to 5,567 in New Taipei City and picked up 9 percent to 2,370 in Taipei.
Transactions in the six municipalities increased 13 percent year-on-year to 189,928 in the first 10 months as a stable economy and low borrowing costs lent support to the market, Hsu added.
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