Unsold presale houses totaled 47,108 units in northern Taiwan as of last month, accounting for 27.7 percent of the overall volume for sale, heaping price correction pressures on developers, a report by My Housing Monthly (住展雜誌) said on Thursday.
The upcoming ban on transfers of presale house purchase agreements, which the government is still fine-tuning to settle details such as when and how to implement it, would add difficulty to their digestion, the magazine’s research manager Chen Tsai-chi (成采錡) said.
Property transactions, including presale house contracts, tumbled 28 percent year-on-year in the first two months of this year, government data showed, as economic uncertainty and interest rates hikes drove potential buyers to the sidelines.
Photo: CNA
Many developers have opted to postpone or extend construction, giving them more time to digest inventory and ease selling pressure, Chen said.
As of last month, Taoyuan had the highest number of unsold presale houses at 18,115 units, followed by New Taipei City’s 17,520 units, the report said, adding that the number in Yilan County and Keelung were small in comparison at less than 2,000 units.
New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水) had the heaviest supply at 4,013 units, concentrated mainly between Tamsui New Township (淡海新市鎮) and Hongshulin (紅樹林) MRT Station.
Fifteen districts in northern Taiwan had more than 2,000 unsold presale units — Tamsui, Sanchong (三重), Tucheng (土城), Linkou (林口), Wugu (五股) and Jhonghe (中和) in New Taipei City and Bade (八德), Lujhu (蘆竹), Dayuan (大園), Yangmei (楊梅), Jhongli (中壢) and Gueishan (龜山) in Taoyuan, it said.
Unsold presale houses in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District numbered more than 3,000, but are relatively popular due to improving infrastructure and its proximity to the capital, Chen said.
By contrast, projects in Gueishan and Jhongli districts and elsewhere in Taoyuan have been waiting for buyers for extended periods and might become the targets of price concessions given relatively heavy supply, Chen added.
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