Home purchase misery index high

The home purchase misery index is derived by dividing the average price of new properties in a particular region by the average annual salary of a married couple living in that region.

Based on My Housing's calculation, Taipei City's home purchase misery index rose to 26.3 in February, meaning people have to go without food and water for 26 years before they can buy a newly finished home in the city.

And, for Daan District — perhaps the most affluent section of Taipei City where pre-built apartments cost an average of NT$1.033 million a ping (one ping equals 3.3 square meters) -- the misery index is 45.9, meaning people have to go without food and water for 46 years before they can purchase a property in the area.

The city's Xinyi District and Zhongzheng District came in second and third, with home purchase misery indices of 37.1 and 33.1, respectively.

The data were based on numbers provided by the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, which showed that last year, the average monthly pay for those between 30 and 34 was NT$32,787, and the average yearly pay for a married couple was NT$787,000. The numbers were a reduction from NT$34,304 and NT$823,000 for 2007.

With these figures, those interested in buying homes for themselves should wait for at least another year, said a real estate expert, yesterday.

“Right now is an absolute high point. There is going to be a turnaround sometime in the future, but it's not going to come soon,” said Chang Chin-er, land administration professor of National Chengchi University. “You have to wait for at least six months, or even a year.”

He urged the public not to panic about the prospect that prices will keep increasing or that they won't be able to buy houses. “If you buy now, you're only going to help investors get their money back and let them off the hook,” he said.

Separately, the central bank may decide during its March 25 meeting to launch selective credit control measures to suppress land speculation, the United Evening News reported, yesterday, citing unnamed bank officials.

The report came a day after another story by Bloomberg, which cited an unnamed bank official as saying Taiwan's central bank is using open-market operations to drain excess cash from the nation's financial system.

The central bank has been issuing negotiable certificates of deposit to absorb cash, the report said.

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