The nation’s major real-estate brokers reported uneven improvement in property deals last month, as some sellers made greater concessions to facilitate transactions.
Sinyi Realty Inc (信義房屋), the nation’s only listed broker, said transactions last month picked up 8 percent nationwide on top of October sales, with the rebound most evident in the Greater Taipei area.
A noticeable correction in housing prices in Taipei and New Taipei City helped spur transactions, while the government has softened rhetoric about the market, Sinyi research manager Tseng Ching-der (曾敬德) said.
Housing transactions increased by double-digit percentage points in the two northern cities, whether compared with October or a year earlier, Sinyi data showed.
Policymakers have floated floor-to-area bonuses and tax cuts for urban renewal projects, both to enhance building safety and the economy.
Minister of Finance Sheu Yu-jer (許虞哲) told legislators yesterday that the government is mulling tax cuts for houses intended for self-occupancy after renewal as a measured effort to revive the market and deter price hikes.
Renewed houses have to bear higher taxes in line with their increased value, with the value possibly never be realized in the absence of a transaction, which is the case for people who have lived in the same house their entire life.
Additionally, the central government and local administrations have raised holding costs sharply in recent years through annual value reassessments. The practice, aimed at curbing speculation, has not only scared away investors, but also hurt people seeking to make purchases.
Luxury housing prices in Taipei slid 8.9 percent last quarter, making the capital the worst performer among 37 surveyed cities, international property broker Knight Frank said in a recent report.
Property trading fell 2.9 percent in Taoyuan and shrank 2.4 percent in Tainan, but increased 9.1 percent in Taichung and edged up 1.2 percent in Kaohsiung, Sinyi said.
Evertrust Rehouse (永慶房屋), the nation’s largest realtor by number of office, said property transfers grew mildly last month thanks to greater pricing flexibility on the part of sellers.
Home prices in Greater Taipei have dropped by more than 10 percent from their peak in 2014, giving buyers incentives to close deals, Evertrust spokesman Lin Tai-lung (林泰隆) said.
“People with real demand underpin the market these days and have the final say on housing prices,” said Lin, who reported an increase in demand of between 1 percent and 6 percent in different parts of Taiwan.
However, Taiwan Realty Co (台灣房屋) said transactions were flat last month from October.
The broker said Donald Trump’s win in the US presidential election raised uncertainty over global trade and drove people to turn cautious about property purchases.
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