Presale housing projects are expected to soar 64.5 percent year-on-year to NT$269.03 billion (US$9.71 billion) in northern Taiwan in the autumn sales season from Sept. 28 through next month, as local cases of COVID-19 and social distancing rules prompted developers to push back launches, the Chinese-language My Housing Monthly said on Thursday last week.
The volume, which would be the largest in history, is projected because a level 3 COVID-19 alert from May to July virtually froze consumer activity, My Housing Monthly research manager Ho Shih-chang (何世昌) said.
Developers and builders regained some confidence after locally transmitted infections dropped to low single-digit numbers, Ho said, adding that a relatively low base last year was also a factor.
Photo: Hsu Yi-ping, Taipei Times
Taipei and New Taipei City account for NT$84.7 billion, or 31.48 percent, with apartments featuring low entry requirements dominating the market in New Taipei City, the magazine said.
New Taipei City’s Banciao (板橋), Sindian (新店), Tamsui (淡水) and Sinjhuang (新莊) districts are each expected to have new residential projects that generate NT$10 billion in sales, it said, adding that the apartments generally have two or three bedrooms to attract people with real demand, especially first-time home buyers.
Taipei has also reported an increase in new apartments of less than 30 ping (99m2), as few people want large homes, Ho said.
New housing projects in Taoyuan total more than NT$50 billion, mostly concentrated in Jhongli (中壢) and Cingpu (青埔) districts with asking prices approaching NT$500,000 per ping, the magazine said.
The market in Hsinchu is quiet, with new projects of a little more than NT$10 billion as developers adopt a low-key approach that might lead to a shortage of homes, it said.
Yilan County reported the lowest value for expected new housing projects in northern Taiwan at NT$2.7 billion, it said.
Major developers such as the Yuanlih Group (元利建設), Chong Hong Construction Co (長虹建設), Hong Pu Real Estate Development Co (宏普建設), Kindom Construction Corp (冠德建設) and Cathay Real Estate Development Co (國泰建設) are selling projects, a sign that the market might be emerging from a slowdown, despite the spread of the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, Ho said.
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