Taipei, Dec. 7 (CNA) Transactions of residential and commercial properties in Taiwan's six special municipalities rose more than 6 percent in November from a year earlier, amid higher demand, as a higher number of overseas-based Taiwanese companies returned home, according to market statistics.
The data showed that transactions of homes, offices, shops and factories in the six major cities -- Taipei, New Taipei, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung -- totaled 19,695 units in November, up 6.5 percent from a year earlier.
Hsieh Chih-chieh (謝志傑), a senior manager at Yung Ching Group real estate agency, said the increase generally reflected rising demand as Taiwanese investors returned home. In addition, demand for new production facilities also increased as Taiwan exporters secured more orders due to the ongoing trade war between China and the United States, he said.
Another factor is that property investors in Taiwan have had more disposable income as a result of a booming local stock market, Hsieh said.
However, the November figure was 8.2 percent lower than in October, when property transactions totaled 21,453 units, the data showed.
In Taipei, the most closely watched property market in Taiwan, transactions of residential and commercial property were 2,396 units in November, up 10.7 percent from a year earlier and 1.1 percent from the previous month, according to the data.
Hsieh said the double digit year-on-year growth in Taipei was driven mainly by an increase in property delivery in the city's Wanhua District.
In New Taipei, the most populous city in Taiwan, property transactions totaled 5,052 units in November, the highest among the six cities, up 1.8 percent from a year earlier but down 9.4 percent from the previous month, the data indicated.
The city's Banqiao, Xinzhuang and Tamsui districts recorded the highest number of transactions, Hsieh said.
In Taoyuan, residential and commercial property sales hit 3,925 units, the second highest among the six cities, up 28.9 percent from a year earlier and 4.2 percent from the previous month.
Sales in the city's Luzhu, Guishan and Taoyuan districts reached new highs in November, which Hsieh said was driven by an increase in the delivery of newly built homes in in Luzhu and Guishan.
Transactions of residential and commercial property in Taichung, central Taiwan, totaled 3,383 units in November, down 9.0 percent from a year earlier and 25.9 percent from the previous month.
In Tainan and Kaohsiung in the south, sales of 1,829 and 3,110 units, respectively, were recorded, representing increases of 6.3 percent and 7.9 percent from a year earlier.
Sales in Tainan fell 12.4 percent in November from a month earlier, while those in Kaohsiung rose 0.7 percent.
In the first 11 months of the year, property transactions in the six cities totaled 209,623 units, up 7.9 percent from a year earlier, with Taoyuan enjoying the highest growth of 13.7 percent in the period, the data showed.
According to the Ministry of the Interior, housing transactions throughout Taiwan in the first 10 months of the year totaled 246,200 units.
Tseng Ching-der (曾敬德), a research manager with Sinyi Realty Inc., said transactions in the six largest cities are expected to increase, which will send the 2019 national figure to 300,000 units, the highest in five years.
(By Pan Yi-ching and Frances Huang)
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