Housing transactions last month totaled 17,591 units in the six special municipalities, down 29.7 percent from one month earlier, as the market started to feel the chilling effect of a local COVID-19 outbreak.
The number represented a 25 percent decline from the same month last year, data from land administration agencies in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung showed.
Sinyi Realty Inc (信義房屋) said the latest data reflect deals that mainly took place in June, as it takes about one month to registers a transaction.
Photo: Hsieh Wu-hsiung, Taipei Times
The market started to improve last month, when the daily number of local COVID-19 infections dropped to between 20 and 30, and the government allowed the conditional reopening of entertainment and recreational facilities last week, Sinyi researcher Tseng Ching-der (曾進德) said yesterday, adding that the government data are a lagging indicator.
Taichung reported the steepest month-on-month decline of 44.1 percent to 2,657 deals, followed by Taipei’s 34.7 percent fall to 1,937 transactions, local government figures showed.
Transactions in Taoyuan and Kaohsiung both shrank 29 percent to 3,011 and 2,981 deals respectively.
The number of transactions in Tainan slid 22 percent to 2,545 units, while New Taipei City posted a 20.5 percent decline to 4,460 deals, data showed.
Tseng said the worst is likely over, judging by house-hunting interest, although uncertainty lingers.
Health authorities yesterday said they would extend the level 2 alert next week, but modestly loosen gathering restrictions for certain venues.
In the first seven months of this year, total transactions in the six cities totaled 152,000 units, up 15.6 percent from a year earlier, data showed.
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