Property transactions in the six special municipalities last month totaled 21,028 units, growing 23 percent from a year earlier, boosted by the preferential lending terms the government introduced in August for first-home purchases, real-estate brokers said on Wednesday.
The advent of the high sales season and first-home purchases encouraged by low interest rates underpinned the pickup in deals, Taipei-based Sinyi Realty Inc (信義房屋) said.
The volume for the whole of this year might now challenge the 300,000 unit mark, an important confidence threshold, the nation’s only listed broker said.
Photo: Hsu Yi-ping, Taipei Times
Buyers with real demand have dominated the market this year as a series of unfavorable policy measures scared away investors, Sinyi said, adding that low bases in the second half of last year helped drive the year-on-year improvement.
The uptick is most evident in Tainan, with a spike of 66.8 percent from a year earlier to 2,704 units, as people regained interest in owning apartments near technology firms, Great Home Realty Co (大家房屋) said.
Deals gained 54.6 percent to 5,955 units in New Taipei City, partly on the back of new house deliveries in Jhonghe (中和), Sinjhuang (新莊) and Sindian (新店) districts, it said.
Kaohsiung also benefited from new house deliveries, which helped lift transactions 15.5 percent to 2,961 units, local data showed.
Transactions in Taipei improved 17.3 percent to 2,259 units, while they rose 11.8 percent to 3,721 units in Taoyuan, official data showed.
Interest in existing homes also staged a comeback, Great Home said.
Taichung proved the only exception with an 8.6 percent year-on-year retreat in deals to 3,721 units, data showed.
A lack of affordable properties and new themes accounted for the below-par showing, Great Home said.
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