SIDELINED:The Greater Taipei area bore the brunt of housing falls, with Taipei posting a 53.4% drop and New Taipei City dipping 47.8% as buyers turned cautious

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 12, 2016
By: Crystal Hsu / Staff reporter

New home construction totaled NT$178.5 billion (US$5.33 billion) in the final quarter of last year, shrinking 38 percent from a year earlier, as new property taxes and political uncertainty dampened buying interest, a report by Cathay Real Estate Development Co (國泰建設) and National Chengchi University’s Taiwan Real Estate Research Center (台灣房地產中心) showed.

The market is likely to remain soft this quarter and beyond, given a deteriorating economic environment and political uncertainty, with the opposition winning in last month’s presidential election, but unable to assume office until May 20, the report said.

“Builders and developers stayed on the sidelines last quarter as political uncertainty and new property taxes drove away potential buyers,” the quarterly report said.     [FULL  STORY]