Housing transactions in Taiwan's 6 municipalities up 20% in July

Taipei, Aug. 3 (CNA) Transactions of residential and commercial properties in Taiwan's six special municipalities for July rose 20 percent from a month earlier, as home-buyers rushed to enter the market ahead of the Ghost Month on the Lunar calendar, according to statistics compiled by the six municipal governments.

The statistics show that transactions of homes, shops and offices in the six special municipalities in Taiwan -- Taipei, New Taipei, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung -- for July totaled 22,949 units, a new monthly high in three-and-a-half years.

The July transactions rose 20 percent from a month earlier, helping sales in the six cities come out of the doldrums in June, when property sales fell 13 percent from May. The July figure also grew 17 percent from a year earlier, the data indicates.

Commenting on the month-on-month rebound, Lang Mei-nan (郎美囡), head of research at Great Home Realty, home buyers here were inclined to take delivery before Ghost Month, the seventh month of the year on the Lunar calendar.

In Taiwan, consumers tend not to make purchases of big-ticket items such as cars and homes in Ghost Month in a bid to avoid bad luck. Ghost Month for this year started Aug. 1 and runs through Aug. 29.

In addition to the Ghost Month effect, Tseng Ching-der (曾敬德), a research manager with Sinyi Realty Inc., said the number of working days in July hit 23, higher than June's 19, which also contributed to an increase in housing transactions.

Tseng said that similar to previous months, property sales in July recorded a year-on-year increase, indicating that buying interest in the local property market has improved from a year earlier so far this year.

In the first seven months of this year, transactions of homes, shops and offices in the six municipalities rose 8.2 percent from a year earlier to 133,171 units, the statistics show.

In July, transactions of residential and commercial property in Taipei, Taiwan's capital, which is the most closely watched property market in the country, rose 18 percent from a month earlier to 2,875 units, with Zhongshan, Da'an, Beitou, Xinyi, Datong and Nangang districts recording higher sales. The July figure grew 6 percent from a year earlier.

In New Taipei in northern Taiwan, the most populous city in the country, property sales hit 5,985 units, up 20 percent from a month earlier and also up 8 percent from a year earlier. Tamsui, Zhonghe, and Banqiao districts were the top three in transactions in the month.

Also in northern Taiwan, transactions of residential and commercial property in Taoyuan reached 4,054 units, up 18.1 percent from a month earlier and up 22.6 percent from a year earlier.

In central Taiwan, residential and commercial property sales in Taichung totaled 4,540 units in July, up 37 percent from a month earlier and up 34.5 percent from a year earlier. The significant increase largely resulted from a relatively low comparison base.

In southern Taiwan, sales of homes, shops and offices in Tainan rose 18 percent from a month earlier and grew 24.5 percent from a year earlier to 2,253 units in July, while sales in Kaohsiung hit 3,242 units, up 6.4 percent from a month earlier and up 10.8 percent from a year earlier.

Despite the rebound in July, Hsu Chia-hsin (徐佳馨), head of the research department of real estate sales agent H&B Business Group, said she preferred to stay cautious for the second half of this year by taking into account political factors from the upcoming presidential election in January 2020, and a slowing local economy.