Taipei’s top luxury home projects are about to sell out following years of inventory corrections and price concessions, a report by the Chinese-language Housing Monthly (住展雜誌) said yesterday.
The magazine defines extravagant homes as those valued at NT$2 million (US$65,563) per ping (3.3m2) and up.
“The luxury home market is running out of stock as years of price concessions and inventory adjustments pay off,” Ho Shih-chang (何世昌), the magazine’s research manager said, in the report.
Peace Palace (和平大苑), an urban renewal project between Yuanlih Construction Enterprise Group (元利建設) and private owners, that launched in 2016 is 70 percent sold, Ho said.
The high-rise at the intersection of Heping E Road and Jingshan S Road gained attention when singer-songwriter Jay Chou (周杰倫) bought the top two floors for NT$2.25 million per ping, Ho said, citing the government real-price transaction data.
The newly completed 55 Timeless Tower (琢白) by Continental Development Corp (CDC, 大陸建設) in the Xinyi District (信義) is more than 60 percent sold, the report said.
The tower is popular with buyers in their 40s and 50s, due to its simple and elegant design by award-winning US architect Richard Meier, the report said.
The building features 43 units of 140 ping and 260 ping, and is relatively affordable, compared with similar nearby properties after CDC cut prices, the report said.
The Sherwood Residence (西華富邦), a 198-unit serviced apartment building in the Dazhi area (大直) with upper floors that overlook the Keelung River and Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport), has about 40 larger units available, while the smaller 108-ping units are all sold, the report said.
Huaku Development Co (華固建設) recently sold all 25 units in an upscale building on Dunhua N Road, which boosted its revenue more than fourfold in the first 10 months of this year from a year earlier and sent its share prices up this month, the report said.
Sale rates hovered around 70 percent at Huaku Development project in the Tianmu area (天母), it said.
The slow, but gradual recovery in the luxury home market has led developers to be less flexible on pricing, Ho said.
Merida Industry Co (美利達) has seen signs of recovery in the US and European markets this year, as customers are gradually depleting their inventories, the bicycle maker told shareholders yesterday. Given robust growth in new orders at its Taiwanese factory, coupled with its subsidiaries’ improving performance, Merida said it remains confident about the bicycle market’s prospects and expects steady growth in its core business this year. CAUTION ON CHINA However, the company must handle the Chinese market with great caution, as sales of road bikes there have declined significantly, affecting its revenue and profitability, Merida said in a statement, adding that it would
i Gasoline and diesel prices at fuel stations are this week to rise NT$0.1 per liter, as tensions in the Middle East pushed crude oil prices higher last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. International crude oil prices last week rose for the third consecutive week due to an escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, as the market is concerned that the situation in the Middle East might affect crude oil supply, CPC and Formosa said in separate statements. Front-month Brent crude oil futures — the international oil benchmark — rose 3.75 percent to settle at US$77.01
RISING: Strong exports, and life insurance companies’ efforts to manage currency risks indicates the NT dollar would eventually pass the 29 level, an expert said The New Taiwan dollar yesterday rallied to its strongest in three years amid inflows to the nation’s stock market and broad-based weakness in the US dollar. Exporter sales of the US currency and a repatriation of funds from local asset managers also played a role, said two traders, who asked not to be identified as they were not authorized to speak publicly. State-owned banks were seen buying the greenback yesterday, but only at a moderate scale, the traders said. The local currency gained 0.77 percent, outperforming almost all of its Asian peers, to close at NT$29.165 per US dollar in Taipei trading yesterday. The
RECORD LOW: Global firms’ increased inventories, tariff disputes not yet impacting Taiwan and new graduates not yet entering the market contributed to the decrease Taiwan’s unemployment rate last month dropped to 3.3 percent, the lowest for the month in 25 years, as strong exports and resilient domestic demand boosted hiring across various sectors, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. After seasonal adjustments, the jobless rate eased to 3.34 percent, the best performance in 24 years, suggesting a stable labor market, although a mild increase is expected with the graduation season from this month through August, the statistics agency said. “Potential shocks from tariff disputes between the US and China have yet to affect Taiwan’s job market,” Census Department Deputy Director Tan Wen-ling