Northern Taiwan home prices take off in fourth quarter

First yearly growth recorded since H2 2014

Newly built homes and pre-sale housing projects in northern Taiwan posted a general increase in prices in the last quarter of 2018, the Taipei Times reported, citing Housing Monthly analysts.

The increases marked the first year-on-year growth for average home prices in Taiwan since the second half of 2014, noted Housing Monthly research manager Ho Shih-chang in a statement.

Analysts tracked prices in the cities of Taipei, New Taipei, Taoyuan, Keelung and Hsinchu, as well as the counties of Hsinchu and Yilan. Together the locations account for more than 50 percent of the total residential and commercial property transactions in Taiwan.

In Keelung, average house prices registered an annual growth of 6.63 percent in the fourth quarter, the fastest among the areas surveyed. Home prices in the city then averaged NTD209,000 (USD6,797) per ping (3.3 sqm), up 1.95 percent from the third quarter.

Home prices in Taipei as of the fourth quarter stood at NTD851,000 per ping, up 2.16 percent year-on-year and 2.28 percent on the quarter.

Prices meanwhile averaged NTD385,000 per ping in New Taipei City. Although this means an increment of 1.85 percent between quarters, little changed from 2017, the Times noted.

Similarly, prices in Hsinchu stepped up 1.73 percent quarterly to NTD229,000 per ping, but the figure held steady from a year earlier.

Prices in Taoyuan averaged NTD226,000 per ping, up 2.73 percent on the quarter but down 0.44 percent from the previous year.

Only Yilan saw its prices sink both quarterly and annually to stand at NTD212,000 per ping. This is down 7.8 percent on the year and 0.9 percent from a quarter earlier.