Housing is available in excess of demand throughout Taiwan, especially in Taichung City, but not in Taipei city where there is a shortage, an executive with a local real estate brokerage firm said Sunday.
Citing statistics compiled by the Construction and Planning Agency under the Ministry of the Interior, Liao Peng-sheng, a manager of the Yungching Realty Company, said there were 7.4 million homes in the whole Taiwan by the end of 2006, thanks to an abundance of new units built by local real estate developers over the last three years, but there are only 7.36 million households, which translates into a surplus of 39,000 homes.
That excess represents an expansion of 46.76 per cent compared with the 26,000 surplus units at the end of 2005, and the excess in supply is expected to keep growing, Liao said.
The oversupply is most obvious in Taichung City where there were 415,000 homes and 353,000 households which translates into a surplus of 62,000 homes.
Liao attributed that city's housing surplus to broad-based speculation that Taichung will become more prosperous following the inauguration of high speed rail service earlier this year and the full operation this year of the Central Taiwan Science Park near Taichung, not to mention the anticipation for direct shipping links between Taichung Harbor and mainland China.
However, the glut of homes in Taichung is sure to put a damper on home prices there in the short term, Liao predicted.
At the other end of the spectrum, Liao said there is a shortage of nearly 90,000 homes in Taipei city, which boasts 9.41 million households but has only 8.51 million homes available.
Three other counties -- Yunlin, Kaohsiung and Tainan -- also have experienced a shortage of housing but the deficit, varying from 13,000 to 15,000 units, is not great enough to raise the prices of homes there too steeply, Liao went on.
Taipei and Taoyuan counties are two counties other than Taichung with an oversupply of homes, showing a surplus of 59,000 homes and 56,000 homes respectively, Liao went on.
