Hiyes International Co (海悅國際開發), Taiwan’s largest housing agency, last week reported NT$321 million (US$10.8 million) in net income for last quarter, a 38.37 percent decline from a year earlier, as a spike in domestic COVID-19 infections dampened buying interest.
The financial results translated into earnings per share of NT$3.02, the second-highest figure for the period despite first-quarter revenue declining 12.76 percent year-on-year to NT$1.13 billion, company data showed.
An increase in locally transmitted COVID-19 cases and unfavorable policy measures caused developers nationwide to become more conservative and postpone presale project launches, Hiyes said in a statement on Friday.
Photo: Hsu Yi-ping, Taipei Times
Against that backdrop, the number of prospective buyers fell, but Hiyes’ diversified business approach accounted for partial earnings from indirect investments, it said.
Looking ahead, Hiyes said it remains upbeat about its business prospects for the whole of this year, with NT$200 billion of projects on hand.
Indirect investments would give momentum to profit growth in the medium term, it said.
The housing market might soon see the entry of presale projects across Taiwan that could generate more than NT$10 billion in sales, which would allow business in the first half of this year to match its performance in the same period last year, Hiyes said.
There are already signs of improvement, as revenue for last month recovered to nearly NT$500 million, the company said.
Projects with easy access to public transport or those near industrial clusters would be more popular than projects elsewhere, Hiyes said.
Developers would prioritize digesting inventory at reasonable prices to deal with building material and labor cost hikes, it said.
Local media have reported that developers in southern Taiwan have halted sales with the intention of raising selling prices later to reflect rising costs.
Capacity expansion by major local tech firms and the development of renewable energy sources have worsened labor and building material shortages.
Hiyes is responsible for marketing the Diamond Towers (台北之星) urban renewal project in central Taipei, Tatung Smart Manor (大同莊園) in New Taipei City and a luxury residential complex in Kaohsiung.
The three projects could generate NT$45 billion, NT$15 billion and NT$14 billion in sales respectively, it said.
The company is also selling new projects valued from NT$80 billion to NT$100 billion in Taoyuan, Taichung and Kaohsiung on behalf of Highwealth Construction Corp (興富發), it said.
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