People in the 20 to 29 age bracket are most likely to buy residential property during “ghost month,” while those over 50 still are deterred by superstition, a local real estate company said yesterday.
Analyzing data on home transactions it brokered between 2006 and last year, H&B Realty (住商不動產) found that the share of all homes bought by people in the 20 to 29 age bracket during “ghost month” (19.2 percent) was 45 percent higher than the 13.2 percent share young adults averaged during the previous “normal” month.
In contrast, the average share of real estate purchases made by those in the 50 to 59 age bracket during ghost month was 11.8 percent, down from 20.4 percent in the previous month, a 42 percent fall.
There are many traditional taboos associated with ghost month, the seventh month of the lunar calendar, including the belief that buying real estate during that period invites ghosts into the house and brings bad luck.
With all age groups under the age of 50 showing an increase in their share of real estate purchases during ghost month, the taboo now seems to be something only older generations follow, said Jessica Hsu (徐佳馨), director of H&B Realty’s research division.
“The data shows that young home buyers actively struck deals in ghost month because they felt there was a better chance of negotiating better discounts,” Hsu said.
H&B Realty said the 40 to 49 age group had the highest share (31.4 percent) of home purchases during “ghost month,” followed by the 30 to 39 age bracket with a 27.6 percent share.
Sweeping policy changes under US Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr are having a chilling effect on vaccine makers as anti-vaccine rhetoric has turned into concrete changes in inoculation schedules and recommendations, investors and executives said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has in the past year upended vaccine recommendations, with the country last month ending its longstanding guidance that all children receive inoculations against flu, hepatitis A and other diseases. The unprecedented changes have led to diminished vaccine usage, hurt the investment case for some biotechs, and created a drag that would likely dent revenues and
Macronix International Co (旺宏), the world’s biggest NOR flash memory supplier, yesterday said it would spend NT$22 billion (US$699.1 million) on capacity expansion this year to increase its production of mid-to-low-density memory chips as the world’s major memorychip suppliers are phasing out the market. The company said its planned capital expenditures are about 11 times higher than the NT$1.8 billion it spent on new facilities and equipment last year. A majority of this year’s outlay would be allocated to step up capacity of multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash memory chips, which are used in embedded multimedia cards (eMMC), a managed
CULPRITS: Factors that affected the slip included falling global crude oil prices, wait-and-see consumer attitudes due to US tariffs and a different Lunar New Year holiday schedule Taiwan’s retail sales ended a nine-year growth streak last year, slipping 0.2 percent from a year earlier as uncertainty over US tariff policies affected demand for durable goods, data released on Friday by the Ministry of Economic Affairs showed. Last year’s retail sales totaled NT$4.84 trillion (US$153.27 billion), down about NT$9.5 billion, or 0.2 percent, from 2024. Despite the decline, the figure was still the second-highest annual sales total on record. Ministry statistics department deputy head Chen Yu-fang (陳玉芳) said sales of cars, motorcycles and related products, which accounted for 17.4 percent of total retail rales last year, fell NT$68.1 billion, or
In the wake of strong global demand for AI applications, Taiwan’s export-oriented economy accelerated with the composite index of economic indicators flashing the first “red” light in December for one year, indicating the economy is in booming mode, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Moreover, the index of leading indicators, which gauges the potential state of the economy over the next six months, also moved higher in December amid growing optimism over the outlook, the NDC said. In December, the index of economic indicators rose one point from a month earlier to 38, at the lower end of the “red” light.
RSS