Presale and new housing projects last quarter totaled NT$297.4 billion (US$9.91 billion), an increase of 35.3 percent from a year earlier, as a stable economy and low interest rates helped the market recover, a quarterly survey released last week by Cathay Real Estate Development Co (國泰建設) showed.
The figure was still down 28.9 percent on a quarterly basis, as developers and builders adopted a cautious strategy ahead of the Jan. 11 presidential and legislative elections, the survey said.
“The market saw a stable recovery in the October-to-December period and the entire last year, judging by the construction volume and housing prices,” the survey said, adding that the improvement was limited in terms of sales rates.
Housing prices inched up 0.95 percent to NT$279,400 per ping (3.3m2) nationwide, with the rate for Taipei anchored at NT$798,000 per ping, the survey found.
Housing prices in New Taipei City averaged NT$379,800 per ping, also significantly higher than the national average, as improved infrastructure shortened commute times and narrowed the living standard gap with the capital.
A total of 24,378 units were introduced to the market, representing a 53.7 percent annual increase, the survey said, adding that small apartments priced at NT$12.2 million remained the mainstream products.
A US-China trade truce greatly reduced uncertainty last quarter, driving up land and construction financing as well as mortgage operations, it said, adding that the central bank lent support by leaving interest rates unchanged at 1.375 percent last month for the 14th consecutive quarter.
Housing prices rose to record highs in central and southern Taiwan, where transactions had hit bumps over the past few years, the survey said.
Housing prices in Taoyuan and Hsinchu were at high levels, but still short of the peaks in Taipei and New Taipei City, it said.
The improvement in central and southern Taiwan has drawn attention from the central bank, which last month said it would keep a close eye on potential systematic credit risks, the survey said.
For the whole of last year, both construction volume and housing prices rose from 2018’s levels, but sales rates failed to catch up, the survey said, adding that the 30-day sales rate last quarter rose 0.23 percentage points to 11.5 percent.
Cathay Real Estate hesitated to bet on a continued pickup on concerns that developers and builders are becoming inflexible on pricing, while downside risks linger.
“The room for price concessions is decreasing as building materials and construction costs become more expensive,” the company said.
The US and China are expected to experience an economic slowdown, while the UK is leaving the EU, it added.
Taiwan’s foreign exchange reserves fell below the US$600 billion mark at the end of last month, with the central bank reporting a total of US$596.89 billion — a decline of US$8.6 billion from February — ending a three-month streak of increases. The central bank attributed the drop to a combination of factors such as outflows by foreign institutional investors, currency fluctuations and its own market interventions. “The large-scale outflows disrupted the balance of supply and demand in the foreign exchange market, prompting the central bank to intervene repeatedly by selling US dollars to stabilize the local currency,” Department of Foreign
Intel Corp is joining Elon Musk’s long-shot effort to develop semiconductors for Tesla Inc, Space Exploration Technologies Corp and xAI, marking a surprising twist in the chipmaker’s comeback bid. Intel would help the Terafab project “refactor” the technology in a chip factory, the company said on Tuesday in a post on X, Musk’s social media platform. That is a stage in the development process that typically helps make chips more powerful or reliable. The chipmaker’s shares jumped 4.2 percent to US$52.91 in New York trading on Tuesday. The Terafab project is a grand plan by Musk to eventually manufacture his own chips for
Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) yesterday said it plans to resume operations at two coal-fired power generators for three months to boost security of electricity supply as liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply risks are running high due to the Middle East conflict. The two coal-fired power generators are at Mailiao Power Plant in Yunlin County’s Mailiao Township (麥寮). The plant, operated by Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團), supplied electricity to Taipower’s power grid until the end of last year. Taipower’s decision came about one month after Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) on March 10 said that the nation had no imminent
Some robotaxi passengers were left stranded in the middle of fast-moving traffic in a major Chinese city after their driverless vehicles stopped running, according to police and media reports on Wednesday. A preliminary investigation indicates more than 100 robotaxis came to a halt because of a “system malfunction,” police in the city of Wuhan said in a statement, without elaborating. No injuries were reported. One passenger told Chinese media that their robotaxi stopped after turning a corner. An instruction on a screen read: “Driving system malfunction. Staff are expected to arrive in 5 minutes.” After no one showed up, the passenger pushed
RSS