PASSING THE TORCH: About one in four property transfers were for inheritance or a gift, up from 6 percent in 2007, as aging Taiwanese look to hand down their assets

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 18, 2017
By: Crystal Hsu  /  Staff reporter

Small apartments this year continued to be the mainstream product in the local property market, as relocation and investment needs stalled, leaving first-time home buyers to underpin transactions, a market watcher said on Friday.

Apartments with one or two bedrooms have so far this year accounted for more than 50 percent of presale projects in northern Taiwan, replacing three-bedroom apartments as the mainstream product for the second consecutive year, Housing Monthly said.

As of Dec. 10, there were 698 presale two-bedroom apartments, making up 41.6 percent of all presale projects, while one-bedroom apartments constituted another 15.9 percent, the Chinese-language magazine said.

“Housing prices have grown increasingly unbearable and prospective buyers have no choice but to lower space expectations,” Housing Monthly research manager Ho Shih-chang (何世昌) said by telephone.

Lingering expectations of price falls have driven people with relocation needs to stay on the sidelines, leaving first-time home buyers with moderate budgets to sustain the market, Ho said.    [FULL  STORY]