Presale and new housing projects available for sale in Taiwan’s major municipalities totaled NT$443.96 billion (US$15.23 billion) last quarter, shrinking 14 percent from three months earlier, as developers became cautious, but refused to lower prices amid soaring labor and building material costs, Addcn Technology Co’s (數字科技) online realty arm said yesterday.
The retreat in sales volume had to do with uncertainty linked to a proposed ban on transfers of presale housing contracts, monetary tightening at home and abroad, and military conflict in eastern Europe, newhouse.591.com (591新建案) said.
The cautious sentiment was in contrast with prevalent euphoria one quarter earlier on the back of an economic boom and ultra-low interest rates, the realty unit said.
Despite mounting downside risks, developers refuse to budge on housing prices, saying that soaring land, labor and building material prices squeeze the room for price concessions.
Inflationary pressures have prompted some people to seek shelter in real estate, which has proven an effective hedge against inflation, the online broker said.
The sharpest fall in presale housing last quarter was in Tainan, with a decline of 59 percent. Developers in the city refrained from introducing new products due to persisting labor shortages and land price hikes.
Instead, suppliers have opted to push back product launches and press ahead with construction on unfinished projects in the hope that the situation will become favorable later, it said.
The wait-and-see attitude slowed presale projects in Taoyuan by 45 percent to NT$67.57 billion and in Taichung by 18 percent to NT$83.77 billion, it said.
However, presale housing flourished in Kaohsiung, surging 77 percent quarter-on-quarter to NT$41.45 billion, as the southern port city is widely believed to benefit from capacity expansion plans by major local tech firms, it said.
New Taipei City saw presale housing increase 1 percent to NT$96.84 billion, the realtor said.
Sinjhuang District (新莊) alone accounted for more than 30 percent of the volume as ongoing rezoning served as a catalyst, it added.
Presale housing in Taipei picked up 16 percent to NT$106.66 billion as developers found empty plots in Beitou District (北投) for relatively affordable apartments priced at about NT$700,000 per ping (3.3m2), compared with more than NT$1 million in popular districts and more than NT$2 million in the prime Xinyi District (信義), it said.
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