The nation’s major real-estate brokers reported better transactions this month than last month, when two typhoons and the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday decreased the number of working days and dampened buying interest.
However, the market remains soft and brokers said they expect weak sales for the rest of this quarter — the traditional high sales season — as buyers wait on the sidelines in expectations of price reductions.
Taiwan Realty Co (台灣房屋) posted an 8.3 percent month-on-month increase in property transactions, driven by self-occupancy needs, the broker said.
“The pickup is most evident in Taoyuan and Taichung, where 10-year-old homes outperformed other properties because they are relatively affordable and necessitate low renovation costs,” Taiwan Realty spokeswoman Charlene Chang (張旭嵐) said in a statement.
Sellers in those areas were prepared to be flexible over price, lending support to a monthly upswing of 18.6 percent in Taoyuan and 14.6 percent in Taichung, the broker said.
H&B Realty Co (住商不動產), the nation’s largest broker by number of franchises, said property transactions across the nation increased 6.8 percent month-on-month.
Home deals in New Taipei City and Taoyuan advanced by 22.4 percent and 19.9 percent respectively, H&B head researcher Jessica Hsu (徐佳馨) said.
The improvement extended to other municipalities at a milder pace, Hsu said, adding that Tainan was the only exception, posting a monthly decline of 13 percent.
Hsu attributed Tainan’s bleak showing to the local government’s plans to raise home sales taxes on older houses, in a bid to curb speculation.
Sinyi Realty Inc (信義房屋), the nation’s only listed broker, said that property transactions gained 10 percent this month from last month, and were flat year-on-year.
Taipei and New Taipei City led the monthly rebound with an increase of 11.3 percent and 21.9 percent respectively, research manager Tseng Ching-der (曾敬德) said.
A low base contributed to the rebound and prospective buyers are generally reluctant to chase prices, suggesting a need on the part of sellers to make concessions to facilitate transactions, Tseng said.
Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房屋), Taiwan’s largest broker by number of offices, said the market is consolidating with the number of transactions stabilizing in the north, but shrinking in the south.
Property deals increased 16 percent in Taipei and 8 percent in New Taipei City, Evertrust said, adding that the uptick was 6 percent in Hsinchu and 1 percent in Taoyuan.
Transactions declined 11 percent in Taichung, 5 percent in Tainan and 8 percent in Kaohsiung, Evertrust spokesman Lin Tai-lung (林泰隆) said.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
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],”