Home transactions and housing prices could remain unchanged or rise slightly in the first half of next year due to a relatively high comparison base this year, Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台灣經濟研究院) research fellow Arisa Liu (劉佩真) said on Thursday.
This year, the property market continues to be supported by historically low interest rates in a market awash in ample liquidity, while many equity investors have chosen to lock in their gains and reallocate money to real estate, Liu said.
Many people buy homes to fend off inflationary pressure, Liu said, citing a survey in which 66 percent of respondents preferred to invest in real estate, while 37 percent preferred equity markets.
Photo: I-Hwa Cheng, Bloomberg
The preference for investing in real estate is expected to continue to shore up the local property market next year, she added.
Business sentiment among property developers last month weakened from September, TIER data showed, as few new projects were launched, while the delay of projects by some property developers also made the industry cautious.
However, property sales in Taiwan remained strong, Liu said, citing a sequential increase of 11.3 percent in commercial and residential property transactions to 23,810 units in the nation’s six special municipalities last month.
Transaction growth was largely due to eased concerns over a domestic outbreak of COVID-19 cases, which prompted many property investors and home buyers to jump into the property market, and helped to keep home prices at relative highs, she said.
The central bank is likely to follow the US Federal Reserve in an expected cycle of rate hikes in the middle of next year, although local rates are expected to remain lower than the US Fed’s, while the hikes’ effects are likely to be acceptable to the property market, Liu said.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday said that its research institute has launched its first advanced artificial intelligence (AI) large language model (LLM) using traditional Chinese, with technology assistance from Nvidia Corp. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), said the LLM, FoxBrain, is expected to improve its data analysis capabilities for smart manufacturing, and electric vehicle and smart city development. An LLM is a type of AI trained on vast amounts of text data and uses deep learning techniques, particularly neural networks, to process and generate language. They are essential for building and improving AI-powered servers. Nvidia provided assistance
STILL HOPEFUL: Delayed payment of NT$5.35 billion from an Indian server client sent its earnings plunging last year, but the firm expects a gradual pickup ahead Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), the world’s No. 5 PC vendor, yesterday reported an 87 percent slump in net profit for last year, dragged by a massive overdue payment from an Indian cloud service provider. The Indian customer has delayed payment totaling NT$5.35 billion (US$162.7 million), Asustek chief financial officer Nick Wu (吳長榮) told an online earnings conference. Asustek shipped servers to India between April and June last year. The customer told Asustek that it is launching multiple fundraising projects and expected to repay the debt in the short term, Wu said. The Indian customer accounted for less than 10 percent to Asustek’s
‘DECENT RESULTS’: The company said it is confident thanks to an improving world economy and uptakes in new wireless and AI technologies, despite US uncertainty Pegatron Corp (和碩) yesterday said it plans to build a new server manufacturing factory in the US this year to address US President Donald Trump’s new tariff policy. That would be the second server production base for Pegatron in addition to the existing facilities in Taoyuan, the iPhone assembler said. Servers are one of the new businesses Pegatron has explored in recent years to develop a more balanced product lineup. “We aim to provide our services from a location in the vicinity of our customers,” Pegatron president and chief executive officer Gary Cheng (鄭光治) told an online earnings conference yesterday. “We
LEAK SOURCE? There would be concern over the possibility of tech leaks if TSMC were to form a joint venture to operate Intel’s factories, an analyst said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday stayed mum after a report said that the chipmaker has pitched chip designers Nvidia Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc and Broadcom Inc about taking a stake in a joint venture to operate Intel Corp’s factories. Industry sources told the Central News Agency (CNA) that the possibility of TSMC proposing to operate Intel’s wafer fabs is low, as the Taiwanese chipmaker has always focused on its core business. There is also concern over possible technology leaks if TSMC were to form a joint venture to operate Intel’s factories, Concord Securities Co (康和證券) analyst Kerry Huang (黃志祺)