Northern Taiwan’s presale and new housing market picked up 5.5 percent annually to NT$565.23 billion (US$19.1 billion) in the first half of the year, holding resilient amid the COVID-19 pandemic on the back of low interest rates and ample liquidity, the Chinese-language My Housing Monthly reported yesterday.
The showing translated into a NT$30 billion increase from the same period last year as the market emerged unscathed from political uncertainty linked to the January presidential election and later the pandemic, the publication said.
“The volume could have surpassed the NT$600 billion mark in the absence of the virus outbreak, which disrupted project launches in March and April when people were afraid of going out,” My Housing Monthly research manager Ho Shih-chang (何世昌) said.
Taipei saw the fastest growth with new housing projects gaining 18 percent year-on-year to NT$160 billion in the first six months, the magazine said.
Developers and builders became keen on integrating urban renewal projects that evolved into the city’s driving force due to limited land, Ho said.
Stable housing prices gave builders confidence and incentive to work on time-consuming renewal projects, while authorities considered retiring old and dilapidated buildings, Ho said.
New Taipei City finished the first half with a 15 percent increase in new housing projects that are mostly concentrated in the districts of Sindian (新店), Sanchong (三重), Sinjhuang (新莊) and Tamsui (淡水), Ho said.
Sinjhuang, in particular, returned to the spotlight with a sales volume of more than NT$20 billion, as builders sought to revive buying interest in the sub-city center, My Housing said.
Other places in northern Taiwan fared less well. New housing projects in Keelung tumbled 80 percent to NT$2.3 billion in the first half, while Yilan fell 18 percent to NT$8.5 billion. Hsinchu reported a 15 percent retreat and Taoyuan posted a 2 percent decrease.
Ho said presale and new housing volume could climb modestly to NT$580 billion in the second half, raising the full-year total to NT$1.15 trillion, if the market stays the course of recovery.
The annual volume might reach NT$1.25 trillion to NT$1.3 trillion if BES Engineering Corp’s (中華工程) Taozhu Garden (陶朱隱園), dubbed the most expensive apartment complex in Taipei’s prime Xinyi District (信義), enters the market this quarter as planned, he said.
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