Nearly 80 percent of Taiwan’s home buyers believe it is wise to wait on the sidelines until next year about whether to join the market, as economic uncertainty escalates and selective credit controls linger, a survey by Chinatrust Real Estate Co (中信房屋) showed yesterday.
The global political and economic landscape this year appears uncertain and volatile, casting a shadow on the nation’s economy and housing market, according to a quarterly survey conducted by the Taipei-based real estate broker.
Many Taiwanese turn cautious about the showings in the coming three months, when only 16.1 percent are looking at economic improvement, while 52 percent believe the situation would deteriorate and 31.9 percent think it would hold steady.
Photo courtesy of Chinatrust Real Estate Co
Although the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics last month forecast GDP growth of 3.14 percent for this year, downside risks have intensified since US President Donald Trump returned to the White House, and raised tariffs on different imports and threatened more, said Chuang Si-ming (莊思敏), deputy research manager at Chinatrust Real Estate.
Trump’s tariff hikes would drive up inflationary pressures and create unease among trade partners across the world, making any predictions complicated and difficult, Chuang said.
When asked when would be best to buy houses, nearly 80 percent of respondents believe they should wait and see until next year, and 20.5 percent said it would be wise to make a move in next six months, the survey found.
The findings represented a modest pickup of 3.7 percentage points from three months earlier, when only 16.8 percent entertained the idea of home purchases in the coming six months, which Chuang attributed to the effect of year-end bonuses, which bolstered the banking system’s deposits and eased overconcentration of real-estate lending.
Buying interest is particularly evident among first-home buyers, as they are qualified for favorable lending terms, Chuang said.
Regarding house prices near the plants of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), 53 percent of respondents believe they would go up, 31.9 percent are looking at stable prices and 10.4 percent forecast price corrections, the survey showed.
The mixed sentiments reflect rising concern over a sizable amount of TSMC capacity to be shifted from Taiwan to the US following the chipmaker’s recent announcement of an additional US$100 billion investment in the US, Chuang said.
Anna Bhobho, a 31-year-old housewife from rural Zimbabwe, was once a silent observer in her home, excluded from financial and family decisionmaking in the deeply patriarchal society. Today, she is a driver of change in her village, thanks to an electric tricycle she owns. In many parts of rural sub-Saharan Africa, women have long been excluded from mainstream economic activities such as operating public transportation. However, three-wheelers powered by green energy are reversing that trend, offering financial opportunities and a newfound sense of importance. “My husband now looks up to me to take care of a large chunk of expenses,
SECTOR LEADER: TSMC can increase capacity by as much as 20 percent or more in the advanced node part of the foundry market by 2030, an analyst said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to lead its peers in the advanced 2-nanometer process technology, despite competition from Samsung Electronics Co and Intel Corp, TrendForce Corp analyst Joanne Chiao (喬安) said. TSMC’s sophisticated products and its large production scale are expected to allow the company to continue dominating the global 2-nanometer process market this year, Chiao said. The world’s largest contract chipmaker is scheduled to begin mass production of chips made on the 2-nanometer process in its Hsinchu fab in the second half of this year. It would also hold a ceremony on Monday next week to
TECH CLUSTER: The US company’s new office is in the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City, a new AI industry base and cybersecurity hub in southern Taiwan US chip designer Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) yesterday launched an office in Tainan’s Gueiren District (歸仁), marking a significant milestone in the development of southern Taiwan’s artificial intelligence (AI) industry, the Tainan City Government said in a statement. AMD Taiwan general manager Vincent Chern (陳民皓) presided over the opening ceremony for the company’s new office at the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City (沙崙智慧綠能科學城), a new AI industry base and cybersecurity hub in southern Taiwan. Facilities in the new office include an information processing center, and a research and development (R&D) center, the Tainan Economic Development Bureau said. The Ministry
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday signed a letter of intent with Alaska Gasline Development Corp (AGDC), expressing an interest to buy liquefied natural gas (LNG) and invest in the latter’s Alaska LNG project, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement. Under the agreement, CPC is to participate in the project’s upstream gas investment to secure stable energy resources for Taiwan, the ministry said. The Alaska LNG project is jointly promoted by AGDC and major developer Glenfarne Group LLC, as Alaska plans to export up to 20 million tonnes of LNG annually from 2031. It involves constructing an 1,290km
RSS