Recent hikes in assessed land values in the Greater Taipei area may not discourage real-estate speculation because the significant gap between government-assessed values and market prices still makes the property market a lucrative investment, experts said.
Earlier this month, Taipei City and Taipei County, which account for half of the nation’s housing transactions, raised their assessed land value by 15.33 percent and 12.08 percent, respectively, marking the biggest increases in almost two decades.
The revisions, effective next year, will subject real-estate properties to higher land value -increment levies on ownership transfers, but may not impose unbearable costs on real-estate investments, said Chang Chin-oh (張金鶚), land economics professor at National Cheng-chih University.
The current assessed land value still lags behind the market price by between 30 percent and 50 percent, depending on the location, which makes the actual tax increase tolerable, said Chang, a vocal advocate of implementing drastic tightening measures to cool the property sector.
“The government can fix the issue by requiring real-estate agencies to declare the real prices on all transactions, thus making property transfers more transparent and accountable,” Chang said by telephone.
The academic said housing prices nationwide have jumped in recent years, but some record deals reported in the press have been exaggerated.
A recent survey by the Chinese-language Housing Monthly (住展雜誌) shows home prices gained 30 percent and 17.6 percent in Taipei County and Taipei City respectively over the last three years.
Housing values in Sinjhuang (新莊) top other areas at 78 percent, thanks to re-zoning ordinances and the extension of the mass rapid transit system, said Ni Tzu-jen (倪子仁), spokesman for the magazine.
Chang said construction firms and real-estate agencies tend to boast to promote sales, and the lack of transparency leaves homebuyers vulnerable to the hype.
The Ministry of Interior, which has control over land use, could help level the field by requiring details for each property deal, Chang said.
Chuang Meng-han (莊孟翰), a professor of industrial economics at Tamkang University, said the central bank could also help by tightening land and construction loans.
The bank should take further steps to check housing prices at its policy meeting later this month now that the selective credit control in June has proved futile, Chuang said by telephone.
Sharp competition last week for a 50-year lease to develop a -government plot of land near Pacific Sogo Department Store (太平洋崇光百貨) showed the housing fever spreading to surface rights contests, Chuang said.
Chuang linked central bank inaction in September to political concerns ahead of the special municipality elections.
“The concern is no longer warranted after the elections left the landscape unchanged in November,” he said.
The Ministry of Finance can also lend a helping hand by imposing heavy taxes on short-term home transfers in both pre-sale and second-hand markets, Chuang said, adding that most ordinary people could not afford short-term transfers.
Merida Industry Co (美利達) has seen signs of recovery in the US and European markets this year, as customers are gradually depleting their inventories, the bicycle maker told shareholders yesterday. Given robust growth in new orders at its Taiwanese factory, coupled with its subsidiaries’ improving performance, Merida said it remains confident about the bicycle market’s prospects and expects steady growth in its core business this year. CAUTION ON CHINA However, the company must handle the Chinese market with great caution, as sales of road bikes there have declined significantly, affecting its revenue and profitability, Merida said in a statement, adding that it would
RISING: Strong exports, and life insurance companies’ efforts to manage currency risks indicates the NT dollar would eventually pass the 29 level, an expert said The New Taiwan dollar yesterday rallied to its strongest in three years amid inflows to the nation’s stock market and broad-based weakness in the US dollar. Exporter sales of the US currency and a repatriation of funds from local asset managers also played a role, said two traders, who asked not to be identified as they were not authorized to speak publicly. State-owned banks were seen buying the greenback yesterday, but only at a moderate scale, the traders said. The local currency gained 0.77 percent, outperforming almost all of its Asian peers, to close at NT$29.165 per US dollar in Taipei trading yesterday. The
RECORD LOW: Global firms’ increased inventories, tariff disputes not yet impacting Taiwan and new graduates not yet entering the market contributed to the decrease Taiwan’s unemployment rate last month dropped to 3.3 percent, the lowest for the month in 25 years, as strong exports and resilient domestic demand boosted hiring across various sectors, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. After seasonal adjustments, the jobless rate eased to 3.34 percent, the best performance in 24 years, suggesting a stable labor market, although a mild increase is expected with the graduation season from this month through August, the statistics agency said. “Potential shocks from tariff disputes between the US and China have yet to affect Taiwan’s job market,” Census Department Deputy Director Tan Wen-ling
UNCERTAINTIES: The world’s biggest chip packager and tester is closely monitoring the US’ tariff policy before making any capacity adjustments, a company official said ASE Technology Holding Inc (日月光投控), the world’s biggest chip packager and tester, yesterday said it is cautiously evaluating new advanced packaging capacity expansion in the US in response to customers’ requests amid uncertainties about the US’ tariff policy. Compared with its semiconductor peers, ASE has been relatively prudent about building new capacity in the US. However, the company is adjusting its global manufacturing footprint expansion after US President Donald Trump announced “reciprocal” tariffs in April, and new import duties targeting semiconductors and other items that are vital to national security. ASE subsidiary Siliconware Precision Industries Co (SPIL, 矽品精密) is participating in Nvidia
RSS