The local property market appears to have bottomed out and experienced a mild rebound in the second quarter of this year, according to a Ministry of the Interior quarterly report, in which housing indicators saw the first uptick since the third quarter of last year.
It is still too early to say whether the domestic housing sector will begin to see solid recovery, Chang Chin-oh (張金鶚), professor of land economics at National Chengchi University, said while presenting the report yesterday.
The study was conducted by the ministry’s Architecture and Building Research Institute.
“The decline in the sector has eased and [the sector saw] some liquidity-driven stability in the second quarter, but it is expected to enter a period of corrections in the near future,” Chang said.
Chang attributed the uptick in the composite housing index — which is composed of a leading index, a coincident index and a monitoring index — to the government’s stimulus measures and planned easing of cross-strait regulation.
The monitoring housing index jumped 1 point to 7 points in the second quarter, flashing blue for the fourth consecutive quarter, indicating that the market remains sluggish.
The leading housing index, used to forecast market performance over the next three quarters, edged up 0.66 percent to 92.57 points in the second quarter, while the coincident index, which reflects current housing market conditions, rose 0.69 percent to 100.69 points.
Chang said uncertainty would continue to haunt the sector, as the study found that property-related businesses were divided in their hopes for economic recovery before the end of the year.
Some 30 percent of polled businesses predicted solid economic recovery in the fourth quarter, while 40 percent expressed doubt, the report showed.
On the housing sector’s prospects for the fourth quarter, respondents were optimistic, the report said. Some 46 percent of surveyed businesses, including financial institutions, said the housing sector would improve in the fourth quarter, 43 percent were doubtful and 11 percent said the market would deteriorate.
Meanwhile, buying activity in the housing sector experienced an averaged drop of 5.8 percent month-on-month for the month of August. That was the biggest single-month decline this year, as potential home buyers hesitated in response to rising property prices in recent months, Taiwan Realty (台灣房屋) said in a statement yesterday.
Among the nation’s six metropolitan areas, Hsinchu City, Taichung City and Taipei City saw the largest monthly declines, at 19.2 percent, 7.8 percent and 4.7 percent respectively, the realtor said.
NOTABLE SHIFT: By 2030, 50% of all laptops would be assembled in Southeast Asia, while Taiwan would still mostly focus on research and development, a report said Global laptop and desktop computer supply chains are expected to shift significantly away from China in the next 10 years, a Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute (MIC, 產業情報研究所) report said. By 2030, only 40 percent of global laptop production would remain in China, said the report, which was released on Thursday. “The reshuffling of the global supply chain will be one of the most important trends in the next 10 years,” the institute said in the report. “In the long run, key component makers will follow laptop assemblers in moving out of China.” The Taipei-based institute predicted most key component makers
Merck Group Taiwan yesterday said that it plans to invest substantially on expanding its fab in Kaohsiung’s Lujhu District (路竹) to better serve its local customers, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電). The company said it plans to expand its production space by 50 percent in the next five years and its workforce by about 40 percent, Merck Group Taiwan managing director Dick Hsieh (謝志宏) told a media briefing in Taipei. Hsieh declined to disclose investment details, but said that the latest investment would exceed the total amount Merck has invested in Taiwan over the past few years. Those investments would be
Yageo Corp (國巨), the world’s third-largest supplier of multilayer ceramic capacitors, has formed a strategic alliance with Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) to develop key electronic components for electric vehicles and digital healthcare, it said yesterday. The alliance is to help Yageo boost its revenue from high-end components for vehicles and industrial, medical and aerospace devices, as well as those used in 5G and Internet-of-Things devices, the company said. The companies signed the strategic alliance agreement at Yageo’s headquarters in New Taipei City’s Sindian District (新店). Their cooperation is to start this quarter, the companies said in a joint statement. “Through the cooperation
SUPPLY CONSTRAINTS: The transferred orders might not provide an immediate revenue boost given local chipmakers’ high utilization rates, a senior analyst said Shares of local contract chipmakers yesterday rose as much as the 10 percent daily limit, as investors bet on orders being transferred from Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯國際) after the US imposed export restrictions on the Chinese chipmaker. United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) shares soared 10 percent to close at NT$27.5 as 380 million shares changed hands on the Taiwan Stock Exchange. UMC is the world’s No. 3 foundry by revenue, followed by SMIC, according to data from market researcher TrendForce Corp (集邦科技). UMC has product and customer portfolios similar to those of SMIC, TrendForce said, adding that UMC offers 14-nanometer and
RSS