Housing transactions in the nation’s municipalities last month saw an annual double-digit percentage decline, with the number of sales falling below 2,000 in Taipei, surprising some analysts who see the strong performance of the local bourse as an indication that consumer confidence is on the rise.
Despite the year-on-year decline, some areas showed a monthly improvement in sales, signaling the market has yet to hit bottom, analysts said.
There were only 1,983 home sales in Taipei last month, down 29 percent from the same period last year, government data show, although the local bourse briefly rose above the 10,000-point mark on large turnover attributed to improving sentiment.
“Last month’s sales in Taipei are a stark contrast with the 5,000 deals per month recorded in bullish times, suggesting the market has yet to stabilize,” Sinyi Realty Inc (信義房屋) researcher Tseng Chin-der (曾進德) said.
The soft performance of the nation’s property market also runs counter to the results of surveys in which respondents say they are generally positive about their abilities to purchase durable goods, on the back of low unemployment figures and tangible wage increases.
Property sales were also soft outside Taipei last month, although figures show a mild improvement from March, likely due to price adjustments favorable to consumers.
New Taipei City saw 4,454 property deals last month, a decline of 14 percent year-on-year but a 17 percent uptick from March, city statistics show.
The completion of the construction of new home developments helped boost transactions in the city’s Sijhih (汐止) and Banciao (板橋) districts, Taiwan Realty Co (台灣房屋) said, adding that more relatively affordable homes had come on to the market in the areas.
The property market in Bancio and Tamsui District (淡水) might continue to find support due to relative affordability and closeness to Taipei, Taiwan Realty said.
There were a total of 3,031 home sales in Taoyuan last month, a fall of 24 percent annually, government data show, as the fever ignited by its administrative upgrade in December last year tapered off.
While the figure in Taoyuan represents a 6.5 percent uptick from March, the room for further improvement is limited, as income tax plans on property gains are set to inhibit buyers’ interest, the broker said.
Uncertainty over the Taoyuan Aerotropolis Project— a multi-billion dollar project to develop land near the airport — is making buyers hesitant, the broker said.
The market in Tainan fell 21 percent year-on-year to 1,529 deals last month, the city’s statistics show, as weak sentiment spread to the southern city where local residents are the main buyers.
The property market would benefit from stimulus measures such as new infrastructure developments, the broker said.
UNPRECEDENTED PACE: Micron Technology has announced plans to expand manufacturing capabilities with the acquisition of a new chip plant in Miaoli Micron Technology Inc unveiled a newly acquired chip plant in Miaoli County yesterday, as the company expands capacity to meet growing demand for advanced DRAM chips, including high-bandwidth memory chips amid the artificial intelligence boom. The plant in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼), which Micron acquired from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion, is expected to make a sizeable capacity contribution to the company from fiscal 2028, the company said in a statement. It would be an extended production site of Micron’s large-scale manufacturing hub in Taichung, the company said. As the global semiconductor industry is racing to reach US$1 trillion
Singapore-based ride-hailing and delivery giant Grab Holdings Ltd has applied for regulatory approval to acquire the Taiwan operations of Germany-based Delivery Hero SE's Foodpanda in a deal valued at about US$600 million. Grab submitted the filing to the Fair Trade Commission on Friday last week, with the transaction subject to regulatory review and approval, the company said in a statement yesterday. Its independent governance structure would help foster a healthy and competitive market in Taiwan if the deal is approved, Grab said. Grab, which is listed on the NASDAQ, said in the filing that US-based Uber Technologies Inc holds about 13 percent of
Taiwan’s food delivery market could undergo a major shift if Singapore-based Grab Holdings Ltd completes its planned acquisition of Delivery Hero SE’s Foodpanda business in Taiwan, industry experts said. Grab on Monday last week announced it would acquire Foodpanda’s Taiwan operations for US$600 million. The deal is expected to be finalized in the second half of this year, with Grab aiming to complete user migration to its platform by the first half of next year. A duopoly between Uber Eats and Foodpanda dominates Taiwan’s delivery market, a structure that has remained intact since the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) blocked Uber Technologies Inc’s
Memory chip stocks extended their losses yesterday after Alphabet Inc’s Google publicized research that could allow more efficient use of the storage needed for artificial intelligence (AI) development. SK Hynix Inc and Samsung Electronics Co, South Korean leaders in the market, fell more than 6 percent and about 5 percent respectively in Seoul. In the US, Micron Technology Inc, Western Digital Corp and Sandisk Corp slid more than 2 percent in pre-market trading, after they all closed lower on Wednesday. Memory companies have been on a tear in recent months as the rapid development of AI infrastructure triggered a spike in chip
RSS