Real-estate brokers see trade plummet

AFTERSHOCK:The month, transactions fell 21.8 percent year-on-year in Taipei, while the volume of sales in Tainan plummeted 35.1 percent, Taiwan Realty said

Major real-estate brokers reported a sharp year-on-year decline in the number of property transactions this month, with Tainan seeing a more than 30 percent fall following the Feb. 6 earthquake.

The data came as little surprise because the Lunar New Year holiday shortened the number of working days, brokers said.

Taiwan Realty Co (台灣房屋) said transactions this month softened 20 percent year-on-year in seven cities and municipalities, with Tainan seeing the steepest fall of 35.1 percent, followed by Kaohsiung with 27.3 percent.

Transactions fell 21.8 percent in Taipei and 15.6 percent in New Taipei City, the broker said.

“The earthquake has depressed an already sluggish market,” Taiwan Realty spokeswoman Charlene Chang (張旭嵐) said, adding that the effect was most pronounced in southern Taiwan over fears the earthquake could have caused soil liquefaction.

Soil liquefaction is a phenomenon in which the strength and stiffness of soil is affected by sudden stress — most often an earthquake — leading it to behave like a liquid.

Following earthquakes in some overseas countries, soil liquefaction has led to large-scale damage and catastrophic declines in property prices.

As new houses are more stress-resistant, homes 30 years old or more have been particularly affected by a decline in interest, Chang said.

Authorities plan to publish a map of areas hit by soil liquefaction next month and house prices in affected areas are bound to fall, Taiwan Realty said.

It is usual for thsi month to be the weakest month of the year for real-estate transactions and sales should improve next month, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房屋) said.

Housing prices across Taiwan fell between 0.3 percent and 3.9 percent this month from last month, Evertrust said.

From a high point two years ago, prices have fallen 11.9 percent in Taipei, 16 percent in New Taipei City and 10.1 percent in Taoyuan, Evertrust said.

H&B Realty Co (住商不動產) reported overall sales declines of 25 percent this month year-on-year, pinning the blame on the holiday and the earthquake.

Taipei and Tainan fell more precipitously, with retreats of 38 percent and 35 percent respectively, H&B said.

People tend to spend with family, rather than looking for houses, the broker said.

Potential buyers would wait and see how the issue of soil liquefaction unfolds, it said.