Major developers on Saturday expressed optimism over the property market in the second half of the year amid the fading impact of the luxury tax, which is aimed at curbing speculation in real-estate markets.
The developers said the property market has been on the road to recovery after construction companies started new projects in late March to stir up buying interest, expecting house prices to stabilize and transactions to increase.
The luxury tax went into effect in June 2011 with the aim of curbing speculation that was causing housing prices to skyrocket, in particular in the north of the country.
The levy mandates a 15 percent sales tax on second homes sold within one year of purchase and a 10 percent sales tax on properties sold one to two years after they were bought.
However, potential sellers who bought their property before June 2011 are exempt from the tax.
REBOUND
Transactions of residential and commercial housing in Taipei and New Taipei City (新北市), two of the major areas targeted by property developers, showed signs of a rebound last month, up 13 percent and 13.3 percent respectively, from April on reduced worries over the luxury tax.
Continental Development Corp (大陸建設) chairman Chang Liang-chi (張良吉) said that although the luxury tax kept many property investors from jumping into the market and dragged down transactions to some extent over the past two years, home prices in select areas in both cities remained stable.
Chang said the steady home prices reflected high land prices in these areas, adding that unless land prices take a beating, housing prices will not fall significantly.
Rich Development Inc (力麒建設) chairwoman Kuo Shu-chen (郭淑珍) said that while the government introduced measures to rein in home prices, Taiwan remains awash in liquidity as the central bank has kept interest rates low for a long time, which has helped to stabilize the local property market.
BUSINESS TIES
In the medium and long-term, Kuo said she has faith in the property market is recovery, in particular in the downtown areas of the Greater Taipei area and other metropolises, amid warming cross-strait business ties, which could lead to more inflows to Taiwan.
Kuo said she expects the prices of offices and shops, as well as luxury residential property, to continue to rise since many Chinese businesspeople are eager to gain foothold in Taiwan.
While being upbeat about the nation’s luxury homes, Huaku Development Co (華固建設) chairman Chung Long-chang (鍾榮昌) said he is also confident that sales of homes catering to the middle class will increase.
Highwealth Construction Corp (興富發建設) chairman Cheng Chin-tien (鄭欽天) said he has high hopes that housing prices in Greater Kaohsiung could make a strong comeback, as homes in the nation’s second-largest city are generally much cheaper than those in Taipei.
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
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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