Housing transactions last month totaled 17,201 units in the nation’s six special municipalities, shrinking 21.7 percent from the same month last year as concern over the COVID-19 pandemic drove potential buyers to the sidelines, brokers said yesterday.
The declines in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung were all by double-digit percentage points, according to data released by the municipal governments.
“Though Taiwan’s outbreak was brought under control in April, consumer sentiment remains low, especially for purchases of durable goods,” Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房屋) spokesman Jay Hsieh (謝志傑) said.
Taichung reported the fastest retreat of 27 percent year-on-year to 3,021 units, followed by New Taipei City, down 25.3 percent to 4,179 units, Tainan; down 24.4 percent to 1,676; and Taipei, down 22.8 percent to 2,118, the data showed.
Transactions in Kaohsiung slowed 16.4 percent to 3,033 units, while Taoyuan dropped 13.2 percent to 3,183 units, the data showed.
As it takes about a month for ownership transfers to be completed, data from last month reflected deals in late March and April, the height of the outbreak in Taiwan, Hsieh said.
Sentiment has since stabilized, but might need more time to regain growth momentum, he said.
Last month’s decline in property transfers narrowed to a mild 2 percent from April, suggesting that the low point has passed, Hsieh said.
Sinyi Realty Inc (信義房屋), the nation’s only listed broker, said that a high comparison base last year meant last month’s data looked abysmal.
The second quarter, usually a high season for the property market, is now unlikely to benefit from positive seasonality this year, partly due to stock corrections, Sinyi research manager Tseng Ching-der (曾進德) said.
The situation might start to improve in the second half of the year, Tseng said.
The local bourse has recovered most of its losses from the virus shock, giving people more confidence about asset allocations, he said.
For the first five months of this year, property transactions in the six special municipalities totaled 88.177 units, a retreat of 3.2 percent from a year earlier.
Taoyuan bucked the trend with a 13.4 percent increase on the back of relatively affordable prices and improved infrastructure, Taiwan Realty Co (台灣房屋) said.
Apartments priced between NT$5 million and NT$8 million (US$166,934 and US$267,094) proved most popular, it said.
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