Housing transactions in the six special municipalities in the first quarter of this year fell 23.6 percent year-on-year to 48,035 units, the lowest level for the same period in eight years, data released by local government agencies on Tuesday showed.
Market watchers said the central bank’s selective credit control measures and a lingering cautious sentiment about the housing market contributed to the annual decrease in transactions.
“Although the policy factor still matters, stock market fluctuations and uncertainties about the international situation would also have an impact on the market in the short term,” Sinyi Realty Inc (信義房屋) research manager Tseng Ching-der (曾敬德) said in a commentary.
Photo: Hsu Yi-ping, Taipei Times
Based on data compiled from the six local governments’ Web sites, housing transactions in Taipei decreased 19.9 percent year-on-year to 5,856 units in the January-to-March period, and those in New Taipei City fell 32.5 percent to 10,183 units.
Transactions in Taoyuan dropped 16.3 percent to 9,265 units and those in Taichung slid 13.1 percent to 10,543 units. Tainan reported a decline of 39 percent to 4,188 units, the lowest in nine years, while Kaohsiung’s transactions fell 23.3 percent to 8,000 units, the lowest in eight years, the data showed.
Last month alone, aggregate transactions in the six special municipalities decreased 21.1 percent year-on-year to 18,211 units; only Taichung posted an annual increase of 2.5 percent, while the other five cities recorded double-digit percentage declines from a year earlier, the data showed.
Cushman & Wakefield Taiwan managing director Billy Yen (顏炳立) said the latest data showed that the local property market remained in the doldrums, with transactions shrinking and prices continuing to consolidate moderately, as many homebuyers remained cautious amid rising risks.
“The local housing market is likely to sleepwalk throughout this year, given the two major challenges ahead: changes in the global economy and the government’s continued control over funds,” cable TV station USTV quoted Yen as saying at a news conference in Taipei on Tuesday.
Based on the latest data from the six major cities, total housing transactions in Taiwan in the first quarter would be about 63,000 units, representing an annual decrease of about 20 percent, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房屋) deputy research head Chen Chin-ping (陳金萍) said in a note.
“Whether transactions could recover in the second quarter — especially the scale and speed of price correction — remains to be seen,” Chen said.
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