Housing deals last month cooled moderately compared with September, despite it traditionally being the high season for property transfers, major real-estate brokers said yesterday.
Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房屋) said transactions at its outlets nationwide shed 1 percent from a month earlier, at odds with the seasonal trend.
The absence of a seasonal advance had much to do with Taiwan’s interest rate hikes and the TAIEX’s deep corrections that made prospective home buyers more financially cautious, Evertrust deputy research head Chen Chin-ping (陳金萍) said in a statement.
Photo: Hsu Yi-ping, Taipei Times
Property transfers held steady in Taipei and edged up in New Taipei City, Chen said, adding that the decline widened to 6 percent in Taoyuan.
Housing deals in Tainan gained 10 percent, but dropped 2 percent in Kaohsiung, Chen said, citing the company’s internal data.
Transactions fell 1 percent in Hsinchu and Taichung, she said.
The lackluster showings for last month came despite buying interest picking up 10 percent from the previous month. People hesitated to make offers in the hope of price corrections, Chen said.
Sinyi Realty Inc (信義房屋) shared similar observations, but said that relocation needs underpinned transactions.
People with relocation needs had usually done enough research to close deals after working out pricing differences with sellers, Sinyi research manager Tseng Ching-der (曾進德) said in a separate statement.
Apartments priced between NT$20 million and NT$25 million (US$620,925 and US$776,156) per unit accounted for the majority of deals in Taipei, while apartments valued at NT$7 million to NT$15 million per unit were the majority in New Taipei City, Tseng said, referring to statistics compiled by the real-estate brokerage.
Elsewhere, apartments priced at NT$10 million to NT$15 million had fair chances of attracting buyers, he said.
Taiwan Realty Co (台灣房屋) saw transactions falling 3.3 percent at its offices across Taiwan, as buyers said they needed more time for consideration.
However, the slowdown was the result of price differences rather than a lack of interest, Taiwan Realty research head Charlene Chang (張旭嵐) said in a news release.
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