Housing transactions last month totaled 24,356 units in the nation’s six special municipalities, a 36 percent increase from a year earlier, catapulted by real-estate needs and investment demands coupled with low interest rates, brokers said.
The volume suggested a 12 percent pickup compared with August’s levels, shattering the spell of Ghost Month, which this year was from Aug. 19 to Sept. 16, when Taiwanese generally shun major events such as purchasing homes, getting married and launching business ventures.
The data affirmed a concrete recovery in the property market that was earlier pushed back by the COVID-19 pandemic, said Sinyi Realty Inc (信義房屋), Taiwan’s only listed broker.
Photo: Hsu Yi-ping, Taipei Times
“Prospective buyers quickly rejoined the market after Taiwan reined in the virus outbreak,” Sinyi researcher Tseng Ching-der (曾敬德) said, adding that the recovery is nationwide.
Taichung reported the steepest increase of 55 percent year-on-year to 4,867 deals, as property funds flowed to central Taiwan, attracted by infrastructure improvements and relative affordability, government data showed.
The number of property deals in Taipei surged 44 percent from a year earlier to 3,133, supported in part by low borrowing costs, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房屋) said.
Record-low interest rates globally had driven idle money from banks to real estate, Evertrust spokesman Jay Hsieh (謝志傑) said.
Properties in Taipei, while relatively expensive compared with housing elsewhere in Taiwan, are resilient in value compared with other investment tools amid intense market volatility, Hsieh said.
Asset allocation needs helped boost housing deals by 28 percent year-on-year to 6,331 units in neighboring New Taipei City, as it emerged as the second-best destination among prospective buyers who cannot afford ownership in Taipei, Hsieh said.
Transactions in Taoyuan rose 37 percent from a year earlier to 4,389 units, while deals in Kaohsiung grew 32 percent to 3,505 units, local government data showed.
Transactions rose 20 percent to 2,131 units in Tainan.
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