Housing prices grew 8.9 percent annually in the first quarter to 8.9 times the average household income, as the property market stabilized after being rocked by unfavorable government measures, an official survey showed yesterday.
The quarterly survey compiled by the Construction and Planning Agency found that houses averaged NT$9.13 million (US$304,739) per unit in the January-to-March period, rising 8.9 percent from the same period last year and 2.1 percent from the fourth quarter of last year.
The survey’s figures showed that prices were 8.9 times the average household income nationwide, a rise of 0.6 percent from a year ago, despite the special sales levy on property transactions and the housing real-price registration measure effected by the government to cool the real-estate sector.
COST OF LIVING
In Taipei, first-quarter home prices averaged NT$20.32 million, gaining 9.7 percent, or 13.5 times the average household income, from a year earlier, according to the survey.
House prices in the first quarter were NT$9.87 million in New Taipei City (新北市) and NT$7.2 million in Greater Kaohsiung, an annual increase of 17.6 percent and 15 percent respectively, the survey showed.
BURDENS
The poll found that the price hikes increased mortgage burdens, which accounted for 33.9 percent of the average household income, except for in Taipei, where homeowners saw the ratio climb to 48.2 percent.
The data lent support to the gradual recovery of the residential property sector after transactions plunged to a nine-year low last year as buyers waited for a price correction to no avail.
A total of 67.8 percent of the buyers and sellers in the property market polled indicated that they had referenced transaction data published on government Web sites, with 33.2 percent saying the data did not significantly impact their transactions.
First-time home buyers comprised 58 percent of transactions in the first quarter and relocation needs accounted for another 26.8 percent, the survey showed, figures that suggest solid real demand.
Only 15 percent of first-time buyers were looking for investment gains, the survey found.
The Ministry of Finance is to re-evaluate the special sales levy next month, with some lawmakers pressing for tightening revisions and others calling for its removal.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained