The housing confidence index for Taiwan’s capital fell to 97.55 in the second quarter, slipping below 100 for the first time since the third quarter of 2003, the Institute for Physical Planning & Information wrote in a report. A score lower than 100 mean most respondents view conditions as poor.

Residential property in Taipei cost an average NT$316,000 per ping in the second quarter, an increase of NT$54,000 per ping from a year earlier, the report said. Each ping equals 3.3 square meters.

People paid an average NT$9 million for a home in Taipei in the second quarter, down from NT$9.3 million a year earlier, according to the report posted on the institute Web site. The survey polled 1,233 people who had already bought a house, 895 people who were looking to buy, and 744 people looking to rent.

Taiwan’s Council for Economic Planning and Development, which sponsored the survey, decided to cancel its press briefing on the release because it indicated a slowdown in the island’s property market, the Economic Daily News reported yesterday.

Taiwan’s central bank on Sept. 20 raised its discount rate on 10-day loans by an eight of a percentage point to 3.25 percent, compared with the 4.75 percent benchmark interest rate in the U.S. That resulted in an exodus of money as individuals and companies invest in higher yielding assets abroad.

Taiwan residents invested a net US$17.2 billion in overseas securities in the second quarter, the biggest quarterly net outflow on record, the island’s central bank said in August.

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