Home sellers in major municipalities in Taiwan have become active in seeking buyers now that a luxury tax on property has been in place for almost two years, which means that the impact of the speculation-curbing measures is fading, a real-estate agent said on Saturday.
Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房屋), one of Taiwan’s leading property agencies, said the number of visitors from seven major municipalities to the sales service section of its online property transaction site has increased month by month this year.
Last month in particular saw a 55 percent rise from January, indicating that sellers have become more willing to sell, Evertrust said.
The seven cities are Taipei, New Taipei City (新北市), Greater Taichung, Greater Tainan, Taoyuan County, Hsinchu City and Greater Kaohsiung, Evertrust said.
The government’s luxury tax went into effect in June 2011 with the aim of curbing speculation that was causing housing prices to skyrocket, in particular in northern Taiwan.
The luxury tax mandates a 15 percent sales tax on second homes sold within one year of purchase and a 10 percent sales tax on properties sold between one and two years after they were bought.
With the implementation of the tax nearing two years, potential sellers who bought their property before June 2011 will not face the tax, Evertrust said.
Evertrust manager Kao Tsui-ping (高翠屏) said many potential home sellers visited the agency’s Web site to ask about the latest transaction statistics, including selling prices, while others were eager to know about tax issues, such as how to calculate the land value incremental tax and the transaction tax.
Kao said the questions show that they are preparing to dispose of their property.
On the buyer side, Evertrust said that the number of potential home buyers from the seven areas visiting the company’s online site also increased month by month this year, with the number of visitors last month up 34 percent from January.
The agency said potential buyers in Taipei showed the strongest interest to buy among the seven major areas, with the number of visitors to its online site last month rising 52 percent from January.
In the first quarter of this year, residential and commercial property transactions rose 24.2 percent to about 79,000 units from the same period of last year, after falling 9 percent year-on-year last year.
Market analysts said the significant growth in transactions partly resulted from the fading impact from the luxury tax.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last