AUTUMN SALES:Despite a forecast 60 percent jump in new housing launches in the north, ‘Housing Monthly’ attributed it to delays rather than a sign of recovery

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 16, 2016
By: Crystal Hsu / Staff reporter

Developers are expected to promote a total of NT$147.83 billion (US$4.67 billion) in new residential and commercial projects in northern Taiwan during the autumn sales season, an increase of nearly 60 percent from the same period last year, a report by Housing Monthly showed yesterday.

The autumn sales season starts next week and lasts through the whole of next month, as property developers make a last push to promote sales of pre-sale developments and newly completed projects before the end of the year.

“The sharp increase has more to do with procedural delays rather than a sign of recovery,” the Chinese-language magazine’s research manager Ho Shih-chang (何世昌) said.

Some builders obtained their building permits late, while others pushed back their launch dates, Ho said, adding that procedural delays accounted for about one-third of the volume.     [FULL  STORY]