Property transactions last month totaled 20,678 units in the nation’s six special municipalities, shrinking 3 percent from a month and a year earlier, as the market continued to digest unfavorable policy measures at a moderate pace, analysts said yesterday.
Property deals retreated 24 percent annually in the first quarter, narrowing to 13 percent year-on-year last quarter, Taiwan’s sole listed broker Sinyi Realty Inc (信義房屋) said, citing data from the civic bureaus of Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung.
The data could suggest there are signs of stabilization, although the market might need more time to acclimatize to the central bank’s new lending restrictions on second-home mortgages introduced on June 15 and the implementation this month of the bans on transfers of pre-sale house purchase agreements, Sinyi research manager Tseng Ching-der (曾敬德) said.
Photo: CNA
There is a fair chance that trading volume would hold steady this month compared with a year earlier, after logging a 3 percent decline last month, indicating that the worst is over and potential buyers have started to regain confidence, Tseng said.
Taipei and Taichung fared better than other areas with a year-on-year increase of 14 percent and 7 percent respectively due to new housing delivery, Sinyi said.
Tainan and Kaohsiung underperformed with a year-on-year slump of 26 percent and 8 percent respectively, as the property fever that had been sparked by the capacity expansion plans of major local tech firms subsided, it said.
The mixed results showed that people on average remain cautious and the market would consolidate in the near future, Taiwan Realty Co (台灣房屋) said.
Summer could be the low season for property transactions, as many people are expected to go on vacation abroad after three years of COVID-19 restrictions, it said, adding that Ghost Month would also be unfavorable.
Taiwanese avoid business transactions during Ghost Month, which is from Aug. 16 to Sept. 14 this year.
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