The pre-sale and new home market flashed a second “blue” signal last month, reflecting sluggish sales, which have improved slightly after some developers lowered prices significantly to facilitate transactions, a Housing Monthly (住展雜誌) report said.
The improvement could sustain its momentum if builders resist the temptation to increase price tags amid a nascent recovery in buying interest, the Chinese-language magazine said.
The market indicator stood at 31.7 last month, modestly better than 31.1 in May and approaching the threshold of 32 for a “yellow-blue” indicator, as pre-sale projects soared to NT$40 billion (US$1.24 billion), from more than NT$10 billion one month earlier, the report said.
“The sentiment gauge could flash ‘yellow-blue’ this month, if the numbers of prospective buyers and dealers pick up further, suggesting the market is shifting gears away from a recessionary state,” the publication’s research manager Ho Shih-chang (何世昌) said.
A pre-sale project is to feature small apartments that are priced below NT$400,000 per ping (3.3m2) even though they are within seven minutes’ walk of Jiangzicui Mass Rapid Transit Station in New Taipei City, the report said.
Likewise, a pre-sale project in Wugu District (五股) has price tags of below NT$300,000 per ping.
The asking prices of both projects are similar to market rates for existing homes nearby, successfully attracting prospective buyers to visit their construction sites, the report said.
As a result, the sub-index on potential buyers rose from 5.76 to 6.15 last month while the reading on transactions climbed from 4.69 to 5.16, the report showed.
However, the sub-index on sales of newly completed houses dropped to 3.88, from 5.27 in May, as developers shun selling such products because they are subject to higher holding taxes.
The Taipei City Government has drastically increased house taxes on homes built with expensive materials and in convenient locations, nearly freezing housing transactions in recent years.
Projects with rigid prices remained unpopular as evidenced by their quiet reception, especially in Taipei, Ho said, adding that high land acquisition costs and a lack of cash strain account for their inflexibility.
The sub-index on price concessions and advertisements stayed unchanged at 4.78 and 4.48 last month, extending the preference on the part of builders and developers for the “status quo,” despite another interest rate cut in June by the central bank to stimulate investment interest.
Construction companies play an important part in driving private investment, a key component of GDP growth in Taiwan, but they made negative contributions in previous quarters and might continue to do so for the rest of this year.
Several companies have said they would hold off introducing new residential projects this year, but would focus on digesting earlier inventory.
In Italy’s storied gold-making hubs, jewelers are reworking their designs to trim gold content as they race to blunt the effect of record prices and appeal to shoppers watching their budgets. Gold prices hit a record high on Thursday, surging near US$5,600 an ounce, more than double a year ago as geopolitical concerns and jitters over trade pushed investors toward the safe-haven asset. The rally is putting undue pressure on small artisans as they face mounting demands from customers, including international brands, to produce cheaper items, from signature pieces to wedding rings, according to interviews with four independent jewelers in Italy’s main
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has talked up the benefits of a weaker yen in a campaign speech, adopting a tone at odds with her finance ministry, which has refused to rule out any options to counter excessive foreign exchange volatility. Takaichi later softened her stance, saying she did not have a preference for the yen’s direction. “People say the weak yen is bad right now, but for export industries, it’s a major opportunity,” Takaichi said on Saturday at a rally for Liberal Democratic Party candidate Daishiro Yamagiwa in Kanagawa Prefecture ahead of a snap election on Sunday. “Whether it’s selling food or
CONCERNS: Tech companies investing in AI businesses that purchase their products have raised questions among investors that they are artificially propping up demand Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Saturday said that the company would be participating in OpenAI’s latest funding round, describing it as potentially “the largest investment we’ve ever made.” “We will invest a great deal of money,” Huang told reporters while visiting Taipei. “I believe in OpenAI. The work that they do is incredible. They’re one of the most consequential companies of our time.” Huang did not say exactly how much Nvidia might contribute, but described the investment as “huge.” “Let Sam announce how much he’s going to raise — it’s for him to decide,” Huang said, referring to OpenAI
The global server market is expected to grow 12.8 percent annually this year, with artificial intelligence (AI) servers projected to account for 16.5 percent, driven by continued investment in AI infrastructure by major cloud service providers (CSPs), market researcher TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. Global AI server shipments this year are expected to increase 28 percent year-on-year to more than 2.7 million units, driven by sustained demand from CSPs and government sovereign cloud projects, TrendForce analyst Frank Kung (龔明德) told the Taipei Times. Demand for GPU-based AI servers, including Nvidia Corp’s GB and Vera Rubin rack systems, is expected to remain high,
RSS