Thirty-two percent of people expect housing prices to fall this quarter — the strongest level of buyer sentiment in seven years — a sharp retreat from last quarter and a sign that the housing market might resume a recovery snapped earlier by the COVID-19 outbreak, a survey released yesterday by Sinyi Realty Inc (信義房屋) found.
“The sentiment improvement came as little surprise given that housing transactions had picked up in May and June, following Taiwan’s successful control of the virus’ spread,” Sinyi researcher manager Tseng Ching-der (曾敬德) said.
Twenty-seven percent of respondents expect a price correction in the second quarter, while 38 percent expect steady prices and 29 percent expect prices to increase, according to the survey, which was conducted from June 11 to 25 and collected 1,275 valid responses.
A record-low interest rate lent support to confidence levels, as 52 percent said that the rate cut in March helped boost their purchasing interest, the survey showed.
Interest rates for mortgage operations are hovering close to 1.38 percent at Taiwan’s five major lenders.
The local market might embark on a different trajectory from other parts of the world where COVID-19 infection rates continue to spike, Tseng said.
Real demand might drive the market, with first-time buyers constituting 53 percent of potential buyers and relocation needs making up another 29 percent, the results showed.
People in Taoyuan, Taichung and Tainan are more positive about housing price movements, they showed.
The finding is consistent with government data showing that Taoyuan’s population has seen a net increase of 24,000 to 2.24 million over the past 18 months, Taiwan Realty Co (台灣房屋) said.
Taoyuan has gained popularity due to improving infrastructure, more affordable housing and more stable weather, it said.
Housing prices last year averaged NT$190,000 (US$6,420) per ping (3.3m2) in Taoyuan, much lower than the NT$600,000 per ping in Taipei, the broker said, citing government statistics.
In related news, major local developer Chong Hong Construction Co (長虹建設) on Monday said that it bought a 9,524.67 ping plot of land in New Taipei City’s Tucheng District (土城) for NT$6.14 billion from Next Media Group (壹傳媒集團) founder Jimmy Lai (黎智英).
Chong Hong said that it initially planned to turn the plot into office buildings, but prefers to integrate extra spaces nearby before arriving at any conclusion about what to do with the land.
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