The central bank’s second interest rate hike would further slow this year’s property transactions, which have plunged by double percentage points in the first five months amid rising economic uncertainty, property analysts said yesterday.
The monetary policymaker on Thursday hiked the policy discount rate by 12.5 basis points to 1.5 percent, but did not introduce further credit controls on real-estate lending as it seeks to combat inflation without overly constraining GDP growth.
“Commercial property transactions shrank 26 percent from a year earlier to NT$50 billion [US$1.68 billion] in the first five months, while land deals tumbled 47 percent to NT$70 billion, as
Housing transactions in the six special municipalities last month plunged 34.9 percent from January, as the Lunar New Year holiday, expected changes in global monetary policy and geopolitical tensions drove people to the sidelines, real-estate brokers said.
The number of transactions totaled 15,646 in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung. All municipalities, with the exception of Taipei, saw a retreat of more than 30 percent, local government data showed.
Taipei posted a decline of 29.6 percent with 1,915 deals.
Kaohsiung reported the biggest tumble of 36.6 percent to 2,437 units, followed by Taoyuan’s 36.4 percent decrease to 2,762 units
Housing transactions might hold steady or rise a mild 3 percent next year on top of an estimated 7.4 percent pickup this year, as tightening measures and lower GDP growth would cool the property market, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房屋) said yesterday.
The projection suggests there would be 345,000 to 355,000 transactions next year, as authorities aim to induce a soft landing for home prices, Evertrust general manager Yeh Ling-chi (葉凌棋) said.
Evertrust data showed that housing prices soared 9.4 to 28.6 percent this year in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung, despite three waves of credit controls, Yeh
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