Housing transactions in the nation’s six special municipalities last month grew 11.3 percent from one month earlier to 23,810 units, as the local COVID-19 situation eased further, government data released on Monday showed.
The volume represented a 9.3 percent increase from a year earlier, as the real-estate market received a boost from an extended economic boom, ample liquidity and low borrowing costs, analysts said.
In New Taipei City, the special municipality that showed the greatest growth, transactions jumped 22.7 percent month-on-month to 6,425 units, which Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房屋) researcher Chen Chin-ping (陳金萍) attributed to pent-up demand from people who had postponed purchases after a local COVID-19 outbreak began in mid-May.
Photo: Ho Yu-hua, Taipei Times
Developers wrapped up construction on new housing projects in Sinjhuang (新莊), Tucheng (土城) and Sijhih (汐止) districts, driving up transactions in New Taipei City in the month, she said.
However, Chen said that last month’s data mainly reflected deals taking place one month earlier, meaning that the market needed more time to digest policy changes that the central bank announced on Sept. 23, which bar lenders from granting grace periods on second-home purchases in the six special municipalities, as well as Hsinchu county and city.
Transactions in Taoyuan rose 17.9 percent month-on-month to 4,426 units, while transactions increased 9.1 percent to 4,375 units in Taichung and 10.9 percent to 4,079 units in Kaohsiung, the data showed.
Taipei and Tainan bucked the uptrend, with transactions falling 1.6 percent to 2,447 units in Taipei and 7.3 percent to 2,058 units in Tainan, the data showed.
Overall, the six municipalities reported transactions of 213,994 units in the first 10 months of the year, up 7.3 percent from a year earlier, the data showed.
PEAK SALES SEASON
Housing transactions nationwide reached 249,000 units in the first three quarters, with the figure expected to surpass 343,000 units for the whole of this year, as the fourth quarter is the peak sales season, Sinyi Realty Inc (信義房屋) research manager Tseng Ching-der (曾進德) said.
In related news, a survey released yesterday by London-based property consultancy Knight Frank LLP found that the COVID-19 pandemic has made people worldwide more willing to buy a second home, in a bid to relocate to a larger house with a lower risk of contracting COVID-19 and to pursue a more balanced lifestyle.
About 64 percent of respondents are looking at price hikes in real-estate properties in the next 12 months, up from 56 percent last year, the results showed.
Thirty-three percent said they were more likely to buy a second home as a result of the pandemic, while 39 percent were willing to pay more for a branded residence.
SECOND-HOME SALES
The findings explain why housing in suburban and second-tier locations at home and abroad are selling, Knight Frank Taiwan researcher Andy Huang (黃舒衛) said, adding that property prices in Tainan and Kaohsiung have spiked over the past few years.
The trend also explains why the number of households in Taipei has dropped this year, Huang said, adding that the outflow is most evident in Taipei’s central districts, such as Daan (大安), Xinyi (信義), Songshan (松山), Zhongzheng (中正) and Zhongshan (中山).
The survey also showed that people are willing to buy studios or small apartments for work on weekdays, Huang said.
Demand for smaller housing units might gain momentum in Taiwan, where low birthrates have dampened the need for large housing units, Huang added.
UNCERTAINTY: Innolux activated a stringent supply chain management mechanism, as it did during the COVID-19 pandemic, to ensure optimal inventory levels for customers Flat-panel display makers AUO Corp (友達) and Innolux Corp (群創) yesterday said that about 12 to 20 percent of their display business is at risk of potential US tariffs and that they would relocate production or shipment destinations to mitigate the levies’ effects. US tariffs would have a direct impact of US$200 million on AUO’s revenue, company chairman Paul Peng (彭雙浪) told reporters on the sidelines of the Touch Taiwan trade show in Taipei yesterday. That would make up about 12 percent of the company’s overall revenue. To cope with the tariff uncertainty, AUO plans to allocate its production to manufacturing facilities in
TAKING STOCK: A Taiwanese cookware firm in Vietnam urged customers to assess inventory or place orders early so shipments can reach the US while tariffs are paused Taiwanese businesses in Vietnam are exploring alternatives after the White House imposed a 46 percent import duty on Vietnamese goods, following US President Donald Trump’s announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on the US’ trading partners. Lo Shih-liang (羅世良), chairman of Brico Industry Co (裕茂工業), a Taiwanese company that manufactures cast iron cookware and stove components in Vietnam, said that more than 40 percent of his business was tied to the US market, describing the constant US policy shifts as an emotional roller coaster. “I work during the day and stay up all night watching the news. I’ve been following US news until 3am
COLLABORATION: Given Taiwan’s key position in global supply chains, the US firm is discussing strategies with local partners and clients to deal with global uncertainties Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) yesterday said it is meeting with local ecosystem partners, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), to discuss strategies, including long-term manufacturing, to navigate uncertainties such as US tariffs, as Taiwan occupies an important position in global supply chains. AMD chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) told reporters that Taiwan is an important part of the chip designer’s ecosystem and she is discussing with partners and customers in Taiwan to forge strong collaborations on different areas during this critical period. AMD has just become the first artificial-intelligence (AI) server chip customer of TSMC to utilize its advanced
Six years ago, LVMH’s billionaire CEO Bernard Arnault and US President Donald Trump cut the blue ribbon on a factory in rural Texas that would make designer handbags for Louis Vuitton, one of the world’s best-known luxury brands. However, since the high-profile opening, the factory has faced a host of problems limiting production, 11 former Louis Vuitton employees said. The site has consistently ranked among the worst-performing for Louis Vuitton globally, “significantly” underperforming other facilities, said three former Louis Vuitton workers and a senior industry source, who cited internal rankings shared with staff. The plant’s problems — which have not
RSS