The local property market continued its slowdown last month with market watchers expressing mixed views about its future prospects, a statement released yesterday said.
Evertrust Rehouse’s (永慶房屋) survey found that residential property prices in the greater Taipei area saw a 10 percent month-on-month decline to average NT$267,000 (US$8,670) per ping (3.3m²) last month while trading volume dropped by 15 percent in the same period.
Benson Liao (廖本勝), president of the parent Evertrust Group, yesterday attributed the market’s slowdown to an poorly performing stock market and rising consumer prices, warning that it was a home buyer’s market, but not for speculative buyers seeking profit gains.
“Sellers need to revise their pricing before more deals will be closed,” he said over the phone yesterday, adding that “a lack of earnings growth is keeping home shoppers from buying.”
The real-estate agency expects to see the local market rebound “in the second half of this year when the global economy recovers and the nation’s cross-strait economic deregulation provides a real boost to the local economy,” company president Yeh Lin-chi (葉凌棋) was quoted as saying in a statement.
But Chang Chin-oh (張金鍔), professor of economics at National Chengchi University, was not as optimistic.
“We are experiencing a bear market, which may only hit the bottom and rebound in three to five years’ time, because it won’t be easy to increase income growth in the years to come,” he said over the telephone yesterday.
The real-estate index, co-compiled by Chang and Cathay Real Estate Development Co (國泰建設), the nation’s second largest developer, showed that the 30-day trading volume indicator saw a 23.49 percent year-on-year decline in the second quarter of this year to reach 412 points, although closing prices saw a 6.15 percent growth at the same time, to average NT$195,500 per ping nationwide in the second quarter.
On a quarterly basis, both closing prices and the 30-day trading volume indicator jumped by 2.53 percent and 28.05 percent respectively in the second quarter, Chang said.
In addition, Evertrust’s survey found that the property market in Taichung saw 30 percent month-on-month decline last month, although average prices remained steady.
The property market in Kaohsiung, however, appeared to benefit from investments made by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), and the launch of the city’s mass rapid transit system, seeing a 5 percent growth in sales last month, compared with June.
However, closing prices on property showed little change at an average NT$90,000 per ping, the company’s statement said.
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
Minister of Finance Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲) yesterday told lawmakers that she “would not speculate,” but a “response plan” has been prepared in case Taiwan is targeted by US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, which are to be announced on Wednesday next week. The Trump administration, including US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, has said that much of the proposed reciprocal tariffs would focus on the 15 countries that have the highest trade surpluses with the US. Bessent has referred to those countries as the “dirty 15,” but has not named them. Last year, Taiwan’s US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US