Presale and new housing projects from last quarter could generate sales of NT$346.7 billion (US$10.69 billion), a double-digit retreat from three months and a year earlier as developers turn cautious, although they held relatively firm on selling prices, Cathay Real Estate Development Co (國泰建設) said in a report on Wednesday.
Cathay Real Estate said the report took into account factors including disappointing GDP growth figures at home and abroad, Taiwan’s policy measures to curb rising home prices and the central bank halting of interest rate hikes.
Developers set presale and new housing at NT$489,100 per ping (3.3m2) nationwide, a 1.27 percent drop from the preceding quarter, it said. The decline was most evident in Taipei at 10.48 percent, as developers launched mostly small apartments of NT$1.06 million per ping, the report said.
Photo: Hsu Yi-ping, Taipei Times
Prices for presale and new housing in Hsinchu City, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung fell by 0.42 percent to 5.95 percent as developers adopted a conservative strategy to deal with political uncertainty linked to January’s presidential and legislative elections, it said.
New home prices in New Taipei City and Taoyuan bucked the trend with increases of 4.95 percent and 1.15 percent respectively, as developers believed they could still take advantage of improving transportation and relative affordability in the two cities, the report said.
Room for price concessions was 8.18 percent, up 0.55 percentage points from three months earlier, while the 30-day sales rate weakened 1.55 percentage points to 9.69 percent, Cathay Real Estate said.
Despite unfavorable economic conditions, the property market received a boost from the government’s introduction in August of preferential lending terms — including low interest rates, extended grace periods and mortgages — for first-home purchases, it said.
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