The residential property market in greater Taipei has bounced back with lower prices, cheap government loans and the traditional buying season rekindling interest, according to a local real estate firm.
Evertrust Rehouse (
"Potential home buyers put on hold for a few weeks plans to buy a house after the two disasters," said Chen Yun-ru (陳韻如), spokeswoman for Evertrust. "They are now returning with growth levels edging above those seen prior to Sept. 11 by about 5 percent," she said.
While encouraging, the market report by Evertrust, which has 43 branches located throughout Taipei City and County, bases the half-month growth estimate on comparisons with September, during which time buyer sentiment was extremely low, thus explaining the subsequent massive spike.
But Taiwan's residential real estate market was in the doldrums long before the attacks, mainly as a result of massive overbuilding in the 1980s and 1990s.
Chen said October's growth figures were bolstered in the greater Taipei area because prices were up to 30 percent lower than the peaks reached in 1998 and 1999, and government loans of up to NT$2.5 million are available at a preferential interest rate of 3.45 percent.
Compounding the revival is the beginning of the traditional buying season for residential properties in Taiwan and the looming December elections.
"Taiwanese generally like to buy before the Chinese New Year," Chen said. "That sentiment is being bolstered earlier this year by the legislative elections during which a carnival-like atmosphere dissuades buyers," she added.
According to Evertrust, a desire to move away from flood-prone areas has also spurred buying sentiment.
In mid-September, Typhoon Nari caused serious flooding in areas of Taipei city, including Sungshan, Hsinyi and Taan districts, that are usually trouble spots during heavy rains.
Neihu and Hsichih are two other perennial flood-prone areas that were badly flooded.
Andrew Liu (
"Some people right now are considering disposing of their property to get capital and begin leasing rather than buying, since people are more interested in having cash in hand," he said.
But as "most residential areas have been affected by the typhoon, it will be very difficult to sell them. ... People will be looking more seriously at geography and the physical condition of the property," Liu said.
Evertrust's estimates are based on the number of people who have lodged detailed inquiries to buy residential property on its Web-based real estate information provider.
SEASONAL WEAKNESS: The combined revenue of the top 10 foundries fell 5.4%, but rush orders and China’s subsidies partially offset slowing demand Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) further solidified its dominance in the global wafer foundry business in the first quarter of this year, remaining far ahead of its closest rival, Samsung Electronics Co, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. TSMC posted US$25.52 billion in sales in the January-to-March period, down 5 percent from the previous quarter, but its market share rose from 67.1 percent the previous quarter to 67.6 percent, TrendForce said in a report. While smartphone-related wafer shipments declined in the first quarter due to seasonal factors, solid demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) devices and urgent TV-related orders
BYPASSING CHINA TARIFFS: In the first five months of this year, Foxconn sent US$4.4bn of iPhones to the US from India, compared with US$3.7bn in the whole of last year Nearly all the iPhones exported by Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) from India went to the US between March and last month, customs data showed, far above last year’s average of 50 percent and a clear sign of Apple Inc’s efforts to bypass high US tariffs imposed on China. The numbers, being reported by Reuters for the first time, show that Apple has realigned its India exports to almost exclusively serve the US market, when previously the devices were more widely distributed to nations including the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. During March to last month, Foxconn, known as Hon Hai Precision Industry
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and the University of Tokyo (UTokyo) yesterday announced the launch of the TSMC-UTokyo Lab to promote advanced semiconductor research, education and talent development. The lab is TSMC’s first laboratory collaboration with a university outside Taiwan, the company said in a statement. The lab would leverage “the extensive knowledge, experience, and creativity” of both institutions, the company said. It is located in the Asano Section of UTokyo’s Hongo, Tokyo, campus and would be managed by UTokyo faculty, guided by directors from UTokyo and TSMC, the company said. TSMC began working with UTokyo in 2019, resulting in 21 research projects,
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) yesterday expressed a downbeat view about the prospects of humanoid robots, given high manufacturing costs and a lack of target customers. Despite rising demand and high expectations for humanoid robots, high research-and-development costs and uncertain profitability remain major concerns, Lam told reporters following the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Taoyuan. “Since it seems a bit unworthy to use such high-cost robots to do household chores, I believe robots designed for specific purposes would be more valuable and present a better business opportunity,” Lam said Instead of investing in humanoid robots, Quanta has opted to invest
RSS