The housing prices along Taichung's coastal line have dropped from the '3s' to the '2s', revealing the current pattern where the annual residential transaction volume across Taiwan has decreased by over 40%. Have investors really retreated? (Background: Taiwan's housing market exploded with 'sky-high prices and flat transactions' with price cuts starting at 15%. Will there be further declines next year?) (Supplementary background: The U.S. housing market froze in June: zero sales, prices hanging high... a 'zombie' market under high interest rates) The housing prices along Taichung's coastal line once soared due to significant construction projects, but they have rapidly cooled down in the summer of 2025. New projects in places like Shalu and Wuci are now advertising '2s' per ping, a significant drop from the peak prices of 360,000 to 400,000 NTD per ping. Market insiders point out that this is not an isolated incident in a single area, but rather a simultaneous contraction in funding and confidence in Taiwan's speculative housing regions, leading the overall housing market back to a consolidation phase. From high fever to cooling down Along Taichung's coastal line (Wuci, Shalu, Qingshui), the transaction price once approached 400,000 NTD per ping due to themes like the Xinguang Tian living circle, industrial parks, and MRT extensions. It was common to see new projects advertise prices starting with '3s' or even '4s'. Now that the heat has dissipated, new projects in Shalu, like 'Shengmei Xiangshang', are attracting buyers with 'sincere 2s', and 'Jiahong Shouyao' in Wuci and 'Shengxing Fengjing' in Qingshui are also following suit. The local price corrections not only attract inquiries from first-time buyers but also force homeowners to lower their expectations. Local real estate agents admit: The supply along the coastal line is excessive, and market funding has started to shrink over the past six months. According to local investors quoted by LTN Media: In this case, there are almost no living amenities nearby, the site has high resistance, and you need to drive in and out, but for the current '2s' in Shalu and homes priced under 10 million NTD, it is very attractive for working professionals who find renting less appealing, essentially buying a place just to sleep. Due to a large number of unsold and pre-sold units along the coastal line this year, the bargaining space has expanded, and investors have turned to selling off, causing prices to plummet in a short amount of time. The nationwide housing market is also cooling down The cooling of Taichung's coastal line corresponds with the nationwide trend of 'contracting volume but stable prices'. In June 2025, the national residential transaction volume decreased by 42.18% year-on-year. Even though there was a brief 4% uptick in July due to a wave of handovers, it is still nearly 30% less than the same period last year. The average sales rate of pre-sale homes in northern Taiwan dropped from 44.5% in the third quarter of 2024 to about 26.7% in early 2025. The annual growth rate of mortgage loans has plummeted to 7.38%, a new low, indicating a significant contraction in housing demand. The latest Taiwan housing price index shows that in the first half of the year, housing prices across Taiwan only increased by 1.2% year-on-year and 0.09% month-on-month, with the growth rate almost stagnating. The median total price of completed homes in Hsinchu County and City fell by 15.1% in the second quarter, exacerbating regional disparities. The policy environment has also intensified the wait-and-see atmosphere. The central bank has repeatedly tightened lending, and banks have restricted credit, raising the threshold for down payments on home purchases. In the past two years, a large number of pre-sale projects concentrated on handovers in 2025, creating what is known as a 'supply tsunami' of selling pressure. Currently, the number of elevator buildings for sale along Taichung's coastal line has exceeded 4,000, with about 200 projects still on sale, clearly highlighting the imbalance between supply and demand. Entering a wait-and-see atmosphere in the second half of the year As investors withdraw and capital costs rise, small and medium-sized builders are the first to suffer. Industry insiders reveal that the monthly visitor numbers in the coastal area are less than 30% of peak levels, and some builders are willing to sell off their inventory at prices below the market rate to speed up cash flow. Real estate agents indicate that some cases have already shown a dual-track market with '3s' asking prices and '2s' transaction prices, with buyers negotiating price reductions of over 15%. Builders facing tight funding are not only reducing prices but also adopting conservative strategies such as delaying construction and reducing project launches to avoid cash flow disruptions. In the second half of 2025, the industry widely expects that 'contracting volume' will continue, while 'stable prices' will depend on the supply and demand structure in various regions. Taichung's coastal line, with a high number of unsold units and completed project themes, faces continued downward pressure on prices. As for the core areas of the six metropolitan cities, they still have support from employment populations and public infrastructure, maintaining short-term price stability, but the growth rates are unlikely to reach the exuberance experienced from 2021 to 2023.