The presale and new housing market last quarter held steady from three months earlier by measure of projects for sale, showing a fractional 0.9 percent growth to NT$328 billion (US$11.13 billion), a Cathay Real Estate Development Co (國泰建設) survey showed on Wednesday.
Sales rates slowed somewhat, but selling prices rose nationwide as developers and builders passed rising construction costs on to buyers.
This segment of the property market continued to perform well, judging by housing prices, the survey showed.
Photo: Hsu Yi-ping, Taipei Times
Developers and builders launched 231 projects offering 20,559 units that could generate NT$328 billion in sales, representing a 13.5 percent increase compared with a year earlier, it said.
The increase in revenue came even though the number of projects and units declined 6.1 percent and 2 percent from their respective levels three months earlier, it said.
That meant the supply side refrained from active project launches, but raised prices to reflect spikes in labor and building material costs, it said.
Some developers pushed back their release schedules after government agencies introduced a spate of unfavorable measures to cool the market, it said.
The Ministry of the Interior is sponsoring a bill to impose stiff fines on dishonest marketing practices, and the central bank is suggesting further credit controls after hiking interest rates by 0.25 percentage points in March.
Potential transaction prices gained 13.66 percent to NT$432,500 per ping (3.3m2) nationwide, while leeway for price concessions was virtually flat at 7.71 percent, it said.
The 30-day sales rate was relatively stable at 15.2 percent, down 1.86 percentage points from the previously quarter, it said.
Price increases are most evident in Hsinchu County at 19.2 percent, followed by Taoyuan at 18.45 percent, and Kaohsiung at 16.37 percent, it said.
Prices for presale housing projects in Taichung and Tainan both rose 11 percent, while advancing 8.6 percent in Taipei and 8.52 percent in New Taipei City.
Average selling prices in Taipei reached NT$1.06 million per ping, a mark previously limited to popular locations, it said, adding that uncertainty is gathering pace this quarter due to heightening economic downside risks.
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