Housing sales declined 16.2 percent in major municipalities last month from a month earlier as price differences between sellers and buyers widened again after transactions climbed to an 18-month high in June.

Housing transactions totaled 17,062 units in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung, data released by respective local governments showed.

“The slump raised concerns that the market might not have stabilized yet, as the retreat is deep and broad-based,” H&B Realty Co (住商不動產) researcher Jessica Hsu (徐佳馨) said.

The figure represented a 6.6 percent fall from a year earlier, during which time builders delivered presale residential complexes in different parts of Taiwan and raised the comparison bar.

New Taipei City reported the steepest pace of decline at 24.8 percent, with transactions standing at 4,223 units, followed by a 19.3 percent fall to 2,809 units in Taichung and a 15.7 percent drop to 1,490 units in Tainan, local government data showed.

Transactions shrank 11.3 percent to 2,969 units in Kaohsiung, while falling by 9.7 percent and 7.7 percent to 1,976 units and 3,214 units in Taipei and Taoyuan respectively, local government tallies showed.

Greater price concessions are necessary if sellers aim to facilitate deals as buyers by and large are reluctant to chase prices, Hsu said.

The landscape looks bumpy ahead if buyers and sellers remain at loggerheads, she said.

Tseng Ching-der (曾敬德), research manager at Sinyi Realty Inc (信義房屋), the nation’s only listed broker, attributed the slump to the advent of the traditional low sales season.

People tend to take a vacation in summer, he said.

The seasonality might slow the pace of recovery, but it might not disrupt it altogether, Tseng said.

The market has embarked on a slow course of recovery since the second half of last year after the central bank eased mortgage restrictions on second homes in Taipei and New Taipei City, Tseng said.

However, Tseng said that the second half might not see a repeat of the transaction spike in June.

Builders and developers have mostly wrapped up construction on presale projects launched at the peak of the market in 2014, he said.

Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房屋) said buyers would regain interest if sellers showed greater flexibility.