Financial regulator to demand transparency in house prices

FSC Chairman Sean Chen said the FSC will ask the Joint Credit Information Center to suggest the proper way for banks to reveal pricing information about the real estate market.

"Making the information public will be very helpful in making prices fair and market-oriented, " Chen said at a Legislative Yuan Finance Committee meeting.

He added that the housing market information to be published should be provided according to area, should be otherwise non-identifiable, and should not contain specific addresses.

Legislators of the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) said they will propose that the FSC must make the housing market information public within three months.

The information will include average deal prices, as well as average ratios and mortgage repayment periods for specific areas.

Legislator Lai Shyh-bao said making housing prices public will be more effective than putting more pressure on the market in terms of curbing the soaring property prices.

Lai pointed out that the large rise in domestic housing prices in the past two years has only taken place in certain areas, such as Taipei City -- with a rise of 36 percent, and Taipei County, at about 12 percent.

He noted that housing prices in southern Taiwan's Kaohsiung County increased by 5 percent, while Kaohsiung City saw an increase of just 1.32 percent. Taichung County and Taichung City even showed negative growth for the 2007-2009 period, he added.

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