Housing transactions last month increased modestly from a month earlier, but rose sharply from a year earlier as real demand remained strong even after the government sounded the alarm over rising property prices, according to the nation’s major property brokers.
Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房屋) reported a 3 percent monthly increase in housing deals nationwide, representing a 27 percent pickup from a year earlier, driven by flush liquidity and low interest rates.
Transactions in the special municipalities of Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Taichung and Tainan soared more than 30 percent from a year earlier, while they rose 27 percent in Kaohsiung, when political uncertainty linked to the presidential elections sidelined a considerable number of buyers, Evertrust spokesman Jay Hsieh (謝志傑) said.
Photo: Hsu Yi-ping, Taipei Times
Buying interest slowed a bit in the first half of last month, but gained momentum in the second half after the US presidential elections came to an end and global pharmaceutical companies announced the development of COVID-19 vaccine candidates that are more than 90 percent effective, Hsieh said.
Evertrust voiced support for government efforts to crack down on speculation of presale housing projects, saying that exaggerated prices and sales are unfair for buyers and unfavorable for the market.
Talks of credit controls by the central bank have had little impact so far on second-hand homes, although they appear to have pushed back launches of new presale projects, Hsieh said.
Sinyi Realty Co (信義房屋) said that its housing transactions grew 2.5 percent from October, in line with a seasonal improvement.
Apartments priced between NT$15 million and NT$25 million (US$520,400 and US$867,333) were the mainstream products due to continued real demand, Sinyi research manager Tseng Ching-der (曾進德) said, adding that investors seemed to show signs of restraint after government officials openly expressed displeasure about rising property prices.
Deputy Minister of the Interior Hua Ching-chun (花敬群) has said property price increases in central and southern Taiwan were reasonable in light of infrastructure improvement and relative affordability.
However, price hikes in the greater Taipei area would not make sense, as the central bank keeps credit controls on luxury homes and average people cannot afford them, he said.
Sinyi expects housing transactions to surpass 320,000 units for the whole of this year, aided by an economic recovery.
H&B Realty Co (住商不動產) said its data showed that transactions gained 6 percent from a month earlier and surged 34.5 percent from a year earlier.
The increase was especially evident in Taichung, where a mass rapid transit system is to open soon, H&B research director Jessica Hsu (徐佳馨) said.
Demand in Tainan and Kaohsiung is also gathering momentum, thanks to the building of plants by major technology companies, which would create high-paid jobs, Hsu said.
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