Taiwan housing projects rise in first half of 2019

Taipei, Aug. 19 (CNA) New housing projects around Taiwan hit a nearly five-year high of 53,646 units in the first half of this year, signaling that the country's housing market appears to be warming up, although prices are unlikely to go higher due to a supply increase, property sales agencies said Monday, citing Ministry of the Interior statistics.

Among the six special municipalities in Taiwan, Taipei saw the largest growth in new housing development projects in the first six months to 5,378 units, up 67 percent from the same period of last year.

Taichung was second, posting a 58.8 percent year-on-year increase to 12,992 units, the largest number of new building projects among the six municipalities.

Meanwhile, housing building in Kaohsiung rose 30.5 percent to 7,140 units compared with the same period of a year earlier.

New Taipei saw a 13.1 percent drop to 7,574 units, while Taoyuan registered a 12.9 percent fall to 7,826 units and a 4.4 percent decline to 3,114 units was posted in Tainan. The falling trend in Tainan has continued for nearly six years, according to the data.

Despite the rebound in the property market, Hsu Chia-hsin (徐佳馨), head of the research department of real estate sales agent H&B Business Group, said that some homeowners in areas where houses are in excess supply are under heavy selling pressure.

In addition, housing prices are not likely to rise sharply despite the warming signs in the market, as many buyers are cautious, taking into account political factors from the upcoming presidential election in January 2020 and the supply increase, Hsu added.

Noting that the housing market has hit bottom and that a new uptrend has begun since late 2016, Lang Mei-nan (郎美囡), head of research at Great Home Realty, said she is upbeat about the market outlook this year, given the uptick in the number of new housing developments nationwide.

The property market remained stable in the first half of this year, mainly due to a return of overseas capital into Taiwan driven by the trade conflict between the United States and China and increases in building in Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung, according to Lang.

(By Wei Shu and Evelyn Kao) Endiem/J