Owning a house has become increasingly unaffordable in Taipei City in light of soaring prices and falling disposable income for average households, a recent survey by a local real estate service provider found.
From January to this month, a 30 ping (99.18m²) apartment cost about NT$14.31 million (US$44,700), or NT$477,000 per ping, according to Sinyi Realty Co (信義房屋), the nation’s only listed real estate brokerage.
That is about 11.5 times more than the average disposable income of NT$1.25 million for individual households in the city, compared with 9.9 times a year earlier, the report said.
“In the absence of financial help, it is impractical for the average family to buy a house as it would take more than a decade to pay off the mortgage,” Stanley Su (蘇啟榮), a senior researcher at Sinyi said.
Rising housing prices led the central bank to hike interest rates by 12.5 basis points in June as well as introduce selective credit controls in Taipei City and 10 popular areas of Taipei County to help curb rising housing prices.
A rate hike of 12.5 basis points adds an extra NT$47 per month to every NT$1 million of mortgaged money, according to Sinyi’s estimate.
While the central bank’s tightening measures have yet to trigger a notable price correction, housing turnover has dropped 10 percent, signaling residential prices in the Greater Taipei area are unlikely to climb higher in the foreseeable future, Su said.
Nationwide, annual disposable incomes for average households fell 2.9 percent year-on-year to NT$888,000 last year, the lowest level since 2003, data released on Aug. 19 by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics showed.
An average household consists of 3.34 members with 1.46 of them making regular financial contributions each month, according to the agency.
The figures showed it is even more difficult for residents from other parts of Taiwan to own a house in Taipei City.
Su said he expected more and more people to settle in Taipei County, where an apartment of 30 ping costs an average of NT$6.93 million, based on price data for the first eight months.
The amount, 7.8 times as much as disposable income, is more affordable for average families, the report said, adding that the burden drops further to 3.3 times in Kaohsiung City.
Sinyi advises home owners and potential buyers to brace for higher mortgage burdens as the central bank is likely to raise interest rates by another 12.5 basis points in its quarterly board meeting next month to cool the property sector.
The central bank’s benchmark discount rate remains low at its current 1.375 percent, while the nation’s strong second-quarter GDP growth of 12.53 percent would give the central bank room for further tightening, the brokerage said.
Real estate agent and property developer JSL Construction & Development Co (愛山林) led the average compensation rankings among companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) last year, while contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) finished 14th. JSL Construction paid its employees total average compensation of NT$4.78 million (US$159,701), down 13.5 percent from a year earlier, but still ahead of the most profitable listed tech giants, including TSMC, TWSE data showed. Last year, the average compensation (which includes salary, overtime, bonuses and allowances) paid by TSMC rose 21.6 percent to reach about NT$3.33 million, lifting its ranking by 10 notches
Popular vape brands such as Geek Bar might get more expensive in the US — if you can find them at all. Shipments of vapes from China to the US ground to a near halt last month from a year ago, official data showed, hit by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and a crackdown on unauthorized e-cigarettes in the world’s biggest market for smoking alternatives. That includes Geek Bar, a brand of flavored vapes that is not authorized to sell in the US, but which had been widely available due to porous import controls. One retailer, who asked not to be named, because
SEASONAL WEAKNESS: The combined revenue of the top 10 foundries fell 5.4%, but rush orders and China’s subsidies partially offset slowing demand Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) further solidified its dominance in the global wafer foundry business in the first quarter of this year, remaining far ahead of its closest rival, Samsung Electronics Co, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. TSMC posted US$25.52 billion in sales in the January-to-March period, down 5 percent from the previous quarter, but its market share rose from 67.1 percent the previous quarter to 67.6 percent, TrendForce said in a report. While smartphone-related wafer shipments declined in the first quarter due to seasonal factors, solid demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) devices and urgent TV-related orders
MINERAL DIPLOMACY: The Chinese commerce ministry said it approved applications for the export of rare earths in a move that could help ease US-China trade tensions Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰) is today to meet a US delegation for talks in the UK, Beijing announced on Saturday amid a fragile truce in the trade dispute between the two powers. He is to visit the UK from yesterday to Friday at the invitation of the British government, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. He and US representatives are to cochair the first meeting of the US-China economic and trade consultation mechanism, it said. US President Donald Trump on Friday announced that a new round of trade talks with China would start in London beginning today,
RSS