Home prices in northern Taiwan up slightly in Q4

Taipei, Jan. 26 (CNA) Prices of newly built homes and pre-sale projects in cities and counties in northern Taiwan generally moved slightly higher in the fourth quarter, indicating a stable property market in these areas, according to real estate magazine My Housing.

Data compiled by the magazine covered the northern Taiwan cities of Taipei, New Taipei, Taoyuan, Keelung, and Hsinchu and the counties of Hsinchu and Yilan, which account for more than 50 percent of the total residential and commercial property transactions in the country.

Home prices in Taipei, the most closely watched property market in Taiwan, averaged NT$851,000 (US$27,630) per ping (one ping equals 3.3 square meters) in the fourth quarter, up 2.28 percent from a quarter earlier and also up 2.16 percent from a year earlier.

Ho Shih-chang (何世昌), a research manager at the magazine, said in a statement that it was the first year-on-year growth in home prices in Taiwan since the second half of 2014.

Prices of both newly built homes and units in pre-sale projects moved higher in Taipei in the fourth quarter, Ho said.

In New Taipei, the most populous city in Taiwan, home prices averaged NT$385,000 per ping in the fourth quarter, up 1.85 percent from a quarter earlier but little changed from a year earlier, the data showed.

Ho said the quarter-on-quarter growth of home prices in certain districts, such as Banqiao, Tucheng, Luzhou, Zhonghe, Yonghe and Tamsui, appeared more apparent in the fourth quarter.

During the same three-month period, home prices in Taoyuan hit NT$226,000 per ping on average, up 2.73 percent from a quarter earlier but down 0.44 percent from a year earlier, the data showed.

The magazine said the quarter-on-quarter price increase in Taoyuan reflected a decline in the number of homes put up for sale in the market, leading to a pricing rebound.

In Keelung, home prices averaged NT$209,000 per ping in the fourth quarter, up 1.95 percent from the previous quarter and also up 6.63 percent from a year earlier, while home prices in Hsinchu hit NT$229,000 per ping, up 1.73 percent from a quarter earlier but unchanged from a year earlier.

The magazine said Yilan was the only area in northern Taiwan to see home prices fall both on a quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year basis, and noted that many property developers are cutting back supplies in the county in a bid to bolster prices.

The data showed home prices in Yilan averaging NT$212,000 per ping, down 0.9 percent from a quarter earlier and also down 7.8 percent from a year earlier.