Housing transactions in the nation’s six special municipalities last month rose 7.1 percent to 27,802 units, led by conspicuous gains in central and southern Taiwan, data released yesterday from respective local governments showed.
In particular, transfers in Taoyuan and Taichung advanced by double-digit percentages to above 5,000 units, as central and southern Taiwan are catching up with the north by measure of transaction volume.
Transfers bounced 14 percent to 5,029 units in Taoyuan while spiking 16 percent to 5,521 units in Taichung, the first time the two areas exceeded 5,000 units mark, as people are increasingly willing to reside outside of the Greater Taipei area, Sinyi Realty Co (信義房屋) research manager Tseng Ching-der (曾進德) said.
Photo: Hsu Yi-ping, Taipei Times
Kaohsiung also achieved a milestone with 5,070 deals, representing an 8 percent increase from November, the local government’s statistics showed.
Property deals in Taipei grew 6 percent to 2,869 units last month and shed 3 percent to 6,934 in New Taipei City, separate local government data showed.
The trend could prompt developers to shift their focus away from Taipei and New Taipei City and give more attention to central and southern Taiwan, Tseng said.
Full-year transactions totaled 268,000 deals in the six special municipalities, the strongest performance in eight years, thanks to an economic boom and a loose monetary policy that has lent support to real-estate properties, he said.
Housing deals nationwide last year could have surpassed 350,000 units, but uncertainty has built up, Tseng said.
The US Federal Reserve has signaled the possibility of raising interest rates later this year to rein in inflation, and central banks elsewhere, including Taiwan, would likely follow suit, which would be unfavorable for mortgage burdens, Tseng said.
Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房屋) researcher Chen Chin-ping (陳金萍) said that the fast spread of the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 is casting a shadow over the global economy.
Potential home buyers should remain cautious and avoid overleveraging, Chen said.
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