The consumer confidence index dropped 1.57 points to 75.49 this month, as the central bank’s credit controls dampened home-buying interest and US president-elect Donald Trump’s tariff vows fueled unease about stock investment, a report by National Central University (NCU) said yesterday.
The confidence gauge for purchases of durable goods — including real-estate properties — reported the steepest retreat of 4.59 points to 103.1, the weakest since February last year, while the timing on home-buying fell to a four-year low, it said.
Dachrahn Wu (吳大任), director of the NCU Economic Research Center, which conducted the survey, attributed the downward trend to September’s credit controls, which require at least 50 percent down payments for second mortgages across the nation.
Photo: CNA
The measure, intended to slow house loans, might hurt people with real demand, in violation of the principle of housing justice, Wu said, adding that interest rates on home loans largely exceed 3 percent today, which add to the financial burden of average households, though the central bank has left policy rates unchanged.
Values of 100 or higher indicate optimism and points lower than the threshold suggest pessimism.
The reading on stock investment declined to 55.88, shedding another 4.41 points, as unease builds up over Trump’s upcoming return to the White House, Wu said.
Trump on Monday said in a series of posts on Truth Social that he intends to impose sweeping tariffs on goods from Mexico, Canada and China.
“On January 20th, as one of my many first executive orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25 percent tariff on all products coming into the United States,” he wrote.
Trump said he would also slap China with a 10 percent tariff, “above any additional tariffs,” in response to what he said was its failure to tackle fentanyl smuggling.
Taiwan’s rising trade surplus with the US might make it a target of punitive tariffs, Wu said, adding that many local firms have operations in China and might be hit by the US-China trade disputes.
The subindices on Taiwan’s economic outlook, household income and the job market also lost points, said the survey, which polled 3,062 adults by telephone between Monday and Thursday last week.
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