Property transfers totaled about 15,919 units across the six special municipalities last month, down 6.3 percent from a month earlier and 19.7 percent from a year earlier, data compiled by local land administrations showed on Monday.
The figure marked the third-lowest monthly tally this year, with transactions supported mainly by genuine demand as restrictive mortgage terms continued to sideline investors, real-estate brokers said.
Among the six municipalities, transfers fell 11.7 percent year-on-year to 1,977 units in Taipei, dropped 12.7 percent to 4,427 in New Taipei City and slumped 24.4 percent to 3,906 in Taoyuan. They also plunged 20 percent to 4,391 in Taichung, declined 16.9 percent to 1,906 in Tainan and tumbled 29.8 percent to 3,217 in Kaohsiung, the data showed.
Photo: Hsu Yi-ping, Taipei Times
Sentiment among first-time buyers and upgraders has improved modestly on the back of the limited loosening of credit rules and the traditional fourth-quarter sales peak, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房屋) said on Monday.
The Financial Supervisory Commission in September exempted first-home buyers and relocators from central bank lending restrictions designed to curb real-estate credit growth.
However, slower new-home handovers offset a mild pickup in existing-home transactions, Evertrust deputy research head Chen Chin-ping (陳金萍) said.
With expectations of price corrections deepening, buyers hold the upper hand, she said.
Last month’s figures also indicate that the market is showing early signs of stabilizing, as the pace of annual decline narrowed, Sinyi Realty Inc (信義房屋) said.
Transfers in the first 11 months of this year reached 184,704 units in the six major municipalities, a 26.1 percent drop from a year earlier, the data showed.
“This year’s slump has been unusually sharp and such dramatic swings are rare without major non-market intervention,” Sinyi chief researcher Tseng Ching-der (曾敬德) said, adding that a full-year tally of about 260,000 units would make this year the weakest in eight years.
The narrowing month-on-month decline is a positive sign, Tseng said, adding that next year’s outlook appears more constructive amid improving economic sentiment and expectations of steady liquidity.
However, areas that have experienced steep price gains could stay under correction pressure as buyers become more cautious, he said.
The central bank is scheduled to hold its quarterly board meeting on Dec. 18. It is expected to review property-lending rules at the meeting, and evaluate whether current curbs adequately address banks’ growing exposure to real estate and are helping to prevent a housing bubble.
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