Property market caution lingers, Chinatrust Real Estate says

• By Crystal Hsu / Staff reporter

Nearly 80 percent of Taiwan’s home buyers believe it is wise to wait on the sidelines until next year about whether to join the market, as economic uncertainty escalates and selective credit controls linger, a survey by Chinatrust Real Estate Co (中信房屋) showed yesterday.

The global political and economic landscape this year appears uncertain and volatile, casting a shadow on the nation’s economy and housing market, according to a quarterly survey conducted by the Taipei-based real estate broker.

Many Taiwanese turn cautious about the showings in the coming three months, when only 16.1 percent are looking at economic improvement, while 52 percent believe the situation would deteriorate and 31.9 percent think it would hold steady.

Photo courtesy of Chinatrust Real Estate Co

Although the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics last month forecast GDP growth of 3.14 percent for this year, downside risks have intensified since US President Donald Trump returned to the White House, and raised tariffs on different imports and threatened more, said Chuang Si-ming (莊思敏), deputy research manager at Chinatrust Real Estate.

Trump’s tariff hikes would drive up inflationary pressures and create unease among trade partners across the world, making any predictions complicated and difficult, Chuang said.

When asked when would be best to buy houses, nearly 80 percent of respondents believe they should wait and see until next year, and 20.5 percent said it would be wise to make a move in next six months, the survey found.

The findings represented a modest pickup of 3.7 percentage points from three months earlier, when only 16.8 percent entertained the idea of home purchases in the coming six months, which Chuang attributed to the effect of year-end bonuses, which bolstered the banking system’s deposits and eased overconcentration of real-estate lending.

Buying interest is particularly evident among first-home buyers, as they are qualified for favorable lending terms, Chuang said.

Regarding house prices near the plants of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), 53 percent of respondents believe they would go up, 31.9 percent are looking at stable prices and 10.4 percent forecast price corrections, the survey showed.

The mixed sentiments reflect rising concern over a sizable amount of TSMC capacity to be shifted from Taiwan to the US following the chipmaker’s recent announcement of an additional US$100 billion investment in the US, Chuang said.