Taipei, Dec. 8 (CNA) The property market in northern Taiwan flashed a "blue light" in November, pointing to contraction amid political uncertainty over the Nov. 24 local government elections, according to a recent survey published in the real estate magazine My Housing.
Citing the survey, the magazine said there was decline in listings of new residential properties, listings of presale residential property projects, advertising for housing sales, and transactions, amid market pessimism in November.
According to the survey, the housing index for northern Taiwan fell 3.7 points in November from the previous month to 27.2 points, the lowest this year.
The index therefore flashed a blue light, which happens when it drops below 32 points, indicating contraction, the magazine said.
The index covers major counties and cities in northern Taiwan such as Taipei, New Taipei, Keelung, Taoyuan, Hsinchu and Yilan, which account for more than 50 percent of the total residential and commercial property transactions in the country.
Under the magazine's color-coded system, a red light indicates overheating, yellow-red shows fast growth, green represents stable growth, yellow-blue signals sluggish growth, and blue indicates contraction.
Ho Shih-chang (何世昌), a research manager at the magazine, said in a statement that political uncertainty due to the Nov. 24 local government elections led to a weaker property market.
Property developers put their listings of newly built homes and presale projects on hold amid cautious buying interest ahead of the elections, Ho said.
In addition, he said, many property developers cut their advertising by almost half in November compared to the previous month, due to the political uncertainty.
However, market conditions are expected to improve in December now that the elections are over, Ho said.
Among the six factors in the composite index for the property market, four dropped in November, while the sub-indexes for home price negotiations and the number of visits by potential buyers remained unchanged at 5.12 and 4.24, respectively, the survey showed.
The sub-indexes for listings of newly built residential property, listings of presale residential property projects, advertising for housing sales, and transactions fell to 7.26, 3.32, 3.58 and 3.75, respectively, from 8.35, 4.44, 4.48 and 4.22 a month earlier.
Ho said the housing index is likely to rebound in December, a peak season, with many property developers launching promotion campaigns to attract buying, but it remains to be seen whether the index will climb out of the blue light range.
(By Wei Hsu and Frances Huang)
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