New home construction totaled NT$178.5 billion (US$5.33 billion) in the final quarter of last year, shrinking 38 percent from a year earlier, as new property taxes and political uncertainty dampened buying interest, a report by Cathay Real Estate Development Co (國泰建設) and National Chengchi University’s Taiwan Real Estate Research Center (台灣房地產中心) showed.
The market is likely to remain soft this quarter and beyond, given a deteriorating economic environment and political uncertainty, with the opposition winning in last month’s presidential election, but unable to assume office until May 20, the report said.
“Builders and developers stayed on the sidelines last quarter as political uncertainty and new property taxes drove away potential buyers,” the quarterly report said.
The cautious sentiment may extend into the first half of this year because the market needs time to adapt to the new property taxes and the ongoing power transition, the report said.
The Greater Taipei area, where housing prices picked up significantly in recent years, bore the brunt last quarter, with new home construction plunging 53.4 percent in Taipei and 47.8 percent in New Taipei City compared with the previous year, the report showed.
The slump came even though the central bank cut interest rates by 12.5 basis points each in September and December, as expectations of price falls outweighed the benefits of cheaper borrowing costs, the report said.
On average, presale projects and newly completed homes nationwide cost NT$269,200 per ping (3.3m2), down 6.44 percent from three months earlier, it said.
Meanwhile, price concessions widened to 17.24 percent, while 30-day sales rates dropped to 8.79 percent, the report said.
Average housing prices stood at NT$759,600 per ping in the capital and NT$386,800 per ping in New Taipei City, dropping 5.11 percent and 0.34 percent respectively from the preceding quarter, the report said.
However, new home prices held firm in some parts of the nation, it said.
Housing prices in Taoyuan and Hsinchu edged up 1.99 percent to NT$218,700 per ping last quarter from three months earlier, as property funds continued to migrate there to take advantage of improved infrastructure facilities, the report said.
New home prices also moved up 2.66 percent last quarter in Tainan, thanks to self-occupancy demand and relative affordability, the report said.
Housing prices declined by a mild 1.75 percent to NT$198,800 per ping in Taichung and 8.08 percent to NT$181,200 per ping in Kaohsuing, the report said, attributing the retreat to a property fund flight.
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
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) today announced that his company has selected "Beitou Shilin" in Taipei for its new Taiwan office, called Nvidia Constellation, putting an end to months of speculation. Industry sources have said that the tech giant has been eyeing the Beitou Shilin Science Park as the site of its new overseas headquarters, and speculated that the new headquarters would be built on two plots of land designated as "T17" and "T18," which span 3.89 hectares in the park. "I think it's time for us to reveal one of the largest products we've ever built," Huang said near the
China yesterday announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9 percent on imports of polyoxymethylene (POM) copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from Taiwan, the US, the EU and Japan. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s findings conclude a probe launched in May last year, shortly after the US sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports. POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc, and have various applications, including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, the Chinese ministry has said. In January, it said initial investigations had determined that dumping was taking place, and implemented preliminary
Intel Corp yesterday reinforced its determination to strengthen its partnerships with Taiwan’s ecosystem partners including original-electronic-manufacturing (OEM) companies such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電). “Tonight marks a new beginning. We renew our new partnership with Taiwan ecosystem,” Intel new chief executive officer Tan Lip-bu (陳立武) said at a dinner with representatives from the company’s local partners, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the US chip giant’s presence in Taiwan. Tan took the reins at Intel six weeks ago aiming to reform the chipmaker and revive its past glory. This is the first time Tan
RSS