Taiwan's Housing Market: "Price Inversion" Hits Seven Major Cities

Ten Districts See Pre-Sale Homes Priced Lower Than New Constructions After Central Bank Measures

Following eight months of the Central Bank's seventh wave of credit controls, a significant trend has emerged in Taiwan's housing market. Data compiled by 591 Real Estate shows that ten districts across seven major cities are experiencing a "price inversion" phenomenon.

The term "price inversion" refers to a situation where the prices of pre-sale properties are lower than the prices of newly completed homes. According to the data, the most pronounced example of this trend is in Taipei City's Zhongzheng District, where new construction homes average NT$1.429 million per ping, significantly higher than pre-sale homes which average NT$1.245 million per ping, a difference of NT$180,000 per ping.

Bi Wu-jie, the Public Relations Director at 591 New Construction News, explains that the pricing dynamics are usually the other way around. Considering the typical 3-5 year construction timeline for pre-sale properties, developers often price them based on anticipated future costs influenced by inflation, rising raw material prices, and labor costs. Therefore, under normal conditions, pre-sale prices would be higher than new construction prices.