2014 housing market: industry players say stable prices and slightly shrinking volume

The number of property sale and purchase transfers in 2013 is estimated to have increased by about 10% compared with 2012, and average condominium prices in metropolitan areas also rose by 11% to 22%. The 2014 housing market is expected to show a pattern of "stable prices and slightly shrinking volume."

Real estate agents said overall housing market transactions in December were roughly flat compared with November. For all of 2013, average condominium price increases in the six municipalities were about 12% to 22%, showing a double rise in "stocks and housing."

Sinyi Realty's statistics on 2013 housing market performance show that the number of sale and purchase transfers is estimated to have increased by about 10% compared with 2012, while average condominium prices in metropolitan areas rose by 11% to 22%. Housing markets in the various metropolitan areas showed "warm in the north, hot in the south," with housing prices in Taipei and New Taipei increasing 12% to 14% year on year, while condominium price increases outside Taipei and New Taipei were nearly 20%.

According to Sinyi Realty statistics, the average condominium price in Taipei reached NT$686,000 per ping in 2013, an increase of about 12% from 2012; the average transaction price in New Taipei in 2013 was NT$345,000, up 14% year on year, maintaining a trend of annual increases since the financial crisis. Looking at price increases, in 2013 the areas with prices in the "one-digit range" actually showed the strongest upward momentum, with prices in Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan, and Kaohsiung rising by about 20%.

Zeng Jingde, project manager of Sinyi Realty's Real Estate Research Department, analyzed that in Tainan, where prices were in the one-digit range, the average condominium price finally broke out of single digits, with the average transaction level rising to NT$120,000 per ping in 2013.

Analyzing the price trend, Zeng Jingde said that average condominium prices in the Taoyuan and Taichung areas are approaching the two-digit range, showing that market funds are abundant, interest rates remain low, and consumer prices are gradually rising. Overall conditions are favorable for housing market performance, but with QE gradually tapering, the long-term low-interest-rate environment may slowly change. In addition, in the second half of 2014, high housing prices may become an election issue. It is expected that in 2014, amid mixed bullish and bearish factors, the market should show a pattern of "stable prices and slightly shrinking volume."