The number of building occupancy permits issued in the first half of the year totaled 41,600, the highest in six years, suggesting an increase of new housing supply going forward that might add pressure for price corrections, property analysts said yesterday.
“Homes that obtain occupancy permits are ready to live in after two months once buyers secure mortgage loans,” Sinyi Realty Inc (信義房屋) researcher Teng Chin-der (增進德) said.
The first-half figure represented a 4 percent increase from the same period last year and a 19.33 percent increase from 2013, as builders and developers aggressively introduced pre-sale projects in recent years to avoid stricter floor space ratio rules effective last month.
In the past, floor space ratio rewards varied for different projects in different parts of the country, but are now uniformly capped at 20 percent nationwide.
“The strategy has contributed to an increase of newly completed homes this year, even though transactions are likely to drop to a 14-year low,” Tseng said.
“Developers generally have to start construction work nine months after acquiring new building permits, though some postpone for technical reasons,” Tseng said.
New building permits issued in June amounted to 13,897, the highest in 18 months, government data indicated, as developers accumulated permits to benefit from reward rules.
Purchases of newly completed houses this year are subject to a special sales tax of up to 15 percent if they are resold within two years.
Property gains from houses acquired from next year are subjected to income tax ranging from 15 percent to 45 percent depending on the length of duration.
“Tax burdens under either system are heavy for short-term transactions and dampen buying interest,” Tseng said, adding that price adjustments appear to be the most effective way to lure buyers.
“Developers and builders have showed flexibility in private, though they refuse to cut asking prices publicly,” Tseng said.
Land sales have been dismal, with transactions slumping 46 percent year-on-year to NT$267.7 billion (US$8.43 billion) for the first five months, government data indicated.
The fall is deeper than the 19 percent contraction for existing home sales in the first half of this year, suggesting a conservative sentiment among developers about inventory building, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房屋) researcher Andy Huang (黃舒衛) said.
Taoyuan, Taichung and New Taipei City, where developers acquired land most aggressively in recent years, suffered with the heaviest declines of 57 percent, 59 percent and 50 percent respectively so far this year, government data showed.
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