Housing transactions in Taiwan might grow at a faster rate next quarter, despite a 30 percent increase so far this year, as many people think it is a good time to join the market, the results of a quarterly survey released yesterday by Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房屋) showed.
The nation’s largest broker by number of offices said it expects total transactions to reach 348,000 to 360,000 units this year, an annual gain of 13 to 17 percent from last year.
“The housing market is benefiting from an economic recovery, wealth effect fueled by TAIEX rallies and favorable lending terms for first-home purchases,” Evertrust general manager Yeh Ling-chi (葉凌棋) said.
Photo: CNA
The same factors also supported housing price increases of 10 to 15 percent over the past four quarters, Yeh said, citing real price transaction data jointly compiled by Evertrust and National Chengchi University.
The government in August introduced favorable lending terms such as ultra-low interest rates of 1.75 percent, a five-year grace period and mortgages of up to 40 years for first-home purchases despite a buyer’s age.
The stimulus program underpinned 40 percent of mortgage operations at the nation’s five major state-run banks: Bank of Taiwan (臺灣銀行), Land Bank of Taiwan (土地銀行), Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合作金庫銀行), Hua Nan Commercial Bank (華南銀行) and First Commercial Bank (第一銀行), government data showed.
Together, they drove 23 percent of overall deals, which would approximate 176,000 to 180,000 units in the first six months, indicating a 30 percent increase from a year earlier and muting a slowdown induced by credit controls, interest rate hikes, stiffer property taxes and bans of presale house purchase agreements, Evertrust said.
The property fever is posed to extend through the second half of this year, as 50 percent of the survey respondents said they believe it would be a good time to buy a house in the next 12 months, while 52 percent said it is the right time to sell, Evertrust research manager Daniel Chen (陳賜傑) said.
At the same time, 60 percent said they expect home prices to rise next quarter, way higher than the 9 percent who said they expect price corrections, Chen said.
In addition, 53 percent said they would hasten purchase decisions to take advantage of the stimulus program, he said.
A massive earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale that struck in Hualien on April 3 would not dampen buying interest, although nearly 90 percent said they prefer to buy homes that are less than 20 years old, he said.
Buying interest was strongest in Kaohsiung at 64 percent, followed by Hsinchu County at 57 percent, Taichung at 56 percent, Taoyuan and New Taipei City at 53 percent each, and Taipei at 52 percent, the survey showed.
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
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
‘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
RSS