Local property stocks underperformed the broader market yesterday, closing down amid fears that Taipei is developing new measures to curb constantly rising housing prices in the city, dealers said.
Selling was sparked by local media reports that the Taipei City Government is looking to raise the housing tax on residential properties not lived in by their owners in a bid to lessen speculation and dampen investors’ appetite for hoarding homes, they said.
The construction sub-index closed down 0.28 percent at 310.76, while the TAIEX closed 0.25 percent higher at 8,966.66.
Among the falling property stocks, shares of property developer Huaku Development Co (華固建設) shed 1.13 percent to close at NT$78.7, those of developer YeaShin International Development Co (亞昕國際開發) shed 1.51 percent to close at NT$22.8, while rival Howarm Construction Co’s (和旺建設) shares fell 1.12 percent to NT$26.5.
The property sector opened higher in line with the broader market, which hit 9,000 points at one point on bullish sentiment about the bellwether electronics sector.
“After the index hit 9,000 points, many investors became reluctant to chase prices to push the broader market higher,” Asia Securities Investment Consultant Co (亞洲投顧) analyst Chang Chih-cheng (張智誠) said, referring to the reduced turnover of NT$70.26 billion (US$2.33 billion) yesterday. “I have to say that technical resistance at 9,000 points remains strong.”
Selling also set in to drag down property stocks as investors were swayed by the news that Taipei could cap house prices.
According to local media reports, Taipei Deputy Mayor Chang Chin-oh (張金鶚) and Minister of Finance Chang Sheng-ford (張盛和) are scheduled to meet next week to discuss the issue.
The deputy mayor has long been seen as an advocate for reining in house prices to prevent a real-estate bubble and make the market healthier.
The two officials are reportedly likely to agree to raise the housing tax on unused properties to 2 percent from 1.2 percent, a move which could prompt investors to lower their property holdings.
Although the government introduced a luxury tax amid a series of measures to curb an increase in house prices, particularly in Taipei, prices have continued to rise, dealers said.
Dealers said as demand in Taipei remains strong, unless the city’s property market suffers a supply glut, the housing tax increase would likely be ineffective.
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
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
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],”
MAJOR BENEFICIARY: The company benefits from TSMC’s advanced packaging scarcity, given robust demand for Nvidia AI chips, analysts said ASE Technology Holding Co (ASE, 日月光投控), the world’s biggest chip packaging and testing service provider, yesterday said it is raising its equipment capital expenditure budget by 10 percent this year to expand leading-edge and advanced packing and testing capacity amid strong artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing chip demand. This is on top of the 40 to 50 percent annual increase in its capital spending budget to more than the US$1.7 billion to announced in February. About half of the equipment capital expenditure would be spent on leading-edge and advanced packaging and testing technology, the company said. ASE is considered by analysts