Housing transactions in the six special municipalities totaled 23,588 units last month, up 19.3 percent from a month earlier, propelled by pent-up demand and excessive liquidity, brokers said, citing government data.
Transactions rose 2.8 percent on an annual basis and represented the strongest showing since January 2016, when the government raised property taxes to stem short-term speculation, they said.
“Housing transactions have switched back to growth mode for two consecutive months as people who had delayed purchases because of the virus outbreak rejoined the market,” Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房屋) spokesman Jay Hsieh (謝志傑) said yesterday.
The COVID-19 situation stabilized in May, allowing prospective buyers to resume house hunting while postponing closings, Hsieh said.
Transactions surged 26.5 percent month-on-month in Taipei to 2,892 units — the municipality with the largest increase — while rising 23.6 percent in Kaohsiung to 3,634 units and 20.3 percent in Taoyuan to 4,615 units, data from the local governments showed.
Transactions rose 19.4 percent month-on-month in New Taipei City to 6,142 units, while rising 17 percent in Tainan to 2,246 units and 11.2 percent in Taichung to 3,649 units, data from the local governments showed.
Transactions for presale and existing markets have heated up, aided by real demand and excessive liquidity, Sinyi Realty Inc (信義房屋) research manager Tseng Ching-der (曾敬德) said.
The pandemic has prompted global central banks to cut interest rates to record lows to ward off a credit crunch and to ease the financial burden of firms and households, with some idle money flowing into the property market in search of better yields, market observers have said.
For the first seven months of this year, combined housing transactions in the six special municipalities declined minus-1.2 percent from a year earlier to 131,539 units as fallout from the nation’s virus situation eased, brokers said.
However, people should not be unduly optimistic, Hsieh said, adding that in the second quarter, the US economy contracted 32.9 percent from a year earlier, while Taiwan’s GDP shrank 0.73 percent.
“The economic data suggest that it will be difficult for the world to return to normalcy with infections spiking in many countries. Buyers and sellers should remain cautious moving forward,” Hsieh said.
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