The nation's confidence index on property prices continued to decline to 111 points in the third quarter from the second quarter's 120 points and the first quarter's high of 131 points, a survey conducted by the Council for Econ-omic Planning and Development (CEPD, 經建會) found yesterday.
Expectations
"Compared to the first two quar-ters, some house buyers expect property prices to rise in the future, although the majority of respondents are still optimistic about the local property market," said James Ting (丁福致), deputy director of the Taiwan Institute for Real Estate Information, which was commissioned by the CEPD to conduct the quarterly survey and compile the index.
Over 45 percent of polled house buyers in the third quarter believe property prices are on the rise -- down from the second quarter's 49.8 percent, while only 4.4 percent believe the prices are on the wane, the survey showed.
Despite of the index's decline, pundits yesterday said that the local property market's recent fluctuation is healthy.
"As long as the index remains at around 100 points, an optimistic market sentiment is still foreseeable," Hua Ching-chun (花敬群), chair of Hsuan Chuang University's department of public affairs management, said yesterday at a press conference.
Hua said that the market sentiment is likely to turn around in the next quarter and return to normal next year when economic uncertainties and the legislative elections next month have been dealt with.
Decline
Expressing a similar view, Timothy Ma (
"Such political instability will not only delay house buyers' decisions, but also have a very negative impact on sales of luxury housing projects," Ma said at the same press conference.
Chairing yesterday's press conference, CEPD chairman Hu Sheng-cheng (
Upgrade
The survey also found that 45.9 percent of respondents are first-time house buyers and another 37.5 percent attempt to upgrade their living environment by moving to new homes of better quality.
A majority 52 percent of house buyers aim for second-hand houses and another 30 percent would like to buy a new house, while only 13 percent would be interested in pre-sale housing projects.
The majority, moreover, is looking for houses measuring between 21 pings and 40 pings and priced between NT$3 million and NT$9 million, an average six times their annual earnings, the survey showed.
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
BIG BUCKS: Chairman Wei is expected to receive NT$34.12 million on a proposed NT$5 cash dividend plan, while the National Development Fund would get NT$8.27 billion Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday announced that its board of directors approved US$15.25 billion in capital appropriations for long-term expansion to meet growing demand. The funds are to be used for installing advanced technology and packaging capacity, expanding mature and specialty technology, and constructing fabs with facility systems, TSMC said in a statement. The board also approved a proposal to distribute a NT$5 cash dividend per share, based on first-quarter earnings per share of NT$13.94, it said. That surpasses the NT$4.50 dividend for the fourth quarter of last year. TSMC has said that while it is eager
‘IMMENSE SWAY’: The top 50 companies, based on market cap, shape everything from technology to consumer trends, advisory firm Visual Capitalist said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) was ranked the 10th-most valuable company globally this year, market information advisory firm Visual Capitalist said. TSMC sat on a market cap of about US$915 billion as of Monday last week, making it the 10th-most valuable company in the world and No. 1 in Asia, the publisher said in its “50 Most Valuable Companies in the World” list. Visual Capitalist described TSMC as the world’s largest dedicated semiconductor foundry operator that rolls out chips for major tech names such as US consumer electronics brand Apple Inc, and artificial intelligence (AI) chip designers Nvidia Corp and Advanced
Pegatron Corp (和碩), an iPhone assembler for Apple Inc, is to spend NT$5.64 billion (US$186.82 million) to acquire HTC Corp’s (宏達電) factories in Taoyuan and invest NT$578.57 million in its India subsidiary to expand manufacturing capacity, after its board approved the plans on Wednesday. The Taoyuan factories would expand production of consumer electronics, and communication and computing devices, while the India investment would boost production of communications devices and possibly automotive electronics later, a Pegatron official told the Taipei Times by telephone yesterday. Pegatron expects to complete the Taoyuan factory transaction in the third quarter, said the official, who declined to be
RSS