As new home mortgages granted by Taiwan’s five major state-run banks reached a five-month high, the average interest rate on new housing loans hit a record low, central bank data released on Tuesday showed.
Total new mortgages granted by Bank of Taiwan (臺灣銀行), Land Bank of Taiwan (土地銀行), Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合作金庫銀行), Hua Nan Commercial Bank (華南銀行) and First Commercial Bank (第一銀行) increased 20.06 percent month-on-month and 31.56 percent year-on-year to NT$60.41 billion (US$2.01 billion) last month, the data showed.
Total new mortgages extended by the five banks for all of last year amounted to NT$592.55 billion, the highest since August in 2011.
The rise in mortgages reflected that December is usually the peak month for the domestic housing market.
It was also in line with the latest housing transaction data released by the six major municipalities, which show that transactions rose 13.3 percent month-on-month and 24.4 percent year-on-year in the six cities to 22,316 units last month, with Taichung posting the highest monthly growth of 30.8 percent and Taoyuan reporting the biggest annual increase of 50 percent, according to local governments’ tallies.
The total number of housing transactions in the six major municipalities increased 9.4 percent to 232,031 units last year from a year ago.
Despite rising mortgage demand, the five banks’ average mortgage rate fell to 1.608 percent per year last month, which was down from the previous month’s 1.617 percent and the lowest on record, the central bank data showed.
The central bank attributed the situation to lenders competing with each other to offer preferential rates for quality clients, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) reported on Wednesday.
Some local lenders were reportedly offering mortgage rates as low as 1.56 percent annually for military personnel, civil servants and public school teachers, while rates for others were around 1.6 percent, the newspaper said, citing central bank officials.
Demand for mortgages was fueled by the current housing market being mostly focused on owner-occupied or self-use homes while the general performance of the housing market last year was stable, the Liberty Times reported, citing central bank officials.
Separately, the five state-run banks last month saw their average lending rates fall to 1.398 percent, down 0.017 percentage points from 1.415 percent in November, which the central bank attributed to a decline of 0.184 percentage points in the interest rate associated with capital expenditure loans to 1.633 percent.
Thanks to the need for funds by returning Taiwanese companies, capital expenditure loans totaled NT$800.05 billion last year, the highest on record, while the average capital expenditure lending rate was 1.81 percent, the lowest since 2011, central bank data showed.
Singapore-based ride-hailing and delivery giant Grab Holdings Ltd has applied for regulatory approval to acquire the Taiwan operations of Germany-based Delivery Hero SE's Foodpanda in a deal valued at about US$600 million. Grab submitted the filing to the Fair Trade Commission on Friday last week, with the transaction subject to regulatory review and approval, the company said in a statement yesterday. Its independent governance structure would help foster a healthy and competitive market in Taiwan if the deal is approved, Grab said. Grab, which is listed on the NASDAQ, said in the filing that US-based Uber Technologies Inc holds about 13 percent of
The domestic unit of the Chinese-owned, Dutch-headquartered chipmaker Nexperia BV will soon be able to produce semiconductors locally within China, according to two company sources. Nexperia is at the center of a global tug-of-war over critical semiconductor technology, with a Dutch court in February ordering a probe into alleged mismanagement at the company. The geopolitical tussle has disrupted supply chains, with some carmakers reportedly forced to cut production due to chip shortages. Local production would allow Nexperia’s domestic arm, Nexperia Semiconductors (China) Ltd (安世半導體中國), to bypass restrictions in place since October on the supply of silicon wafers — etched with tiny components to
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday received government approval to deploy its advanced 3-nanometer (3nm) process at its second fab currently under construction in Japan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a news release. The ministry green-lit the plan for the facility in Kumamoto, which is scheduled to start installing equipment and come online in 2028 with a monthly production capacity of 15,000 12-inch wafers, the ministry said. The Department of Investment Review in June 2024 authorized a US$5.26 billion investment for the facility, slated to manufacture 6- to 12nm chips, significantly less advanced than 3nm process. At a meeting with
Taiwan’s food delivery market could undergo a major shift if Singapore-based Grab Holdings Ltd completes its planned acquisition of Delivery Hero SE’s Foodpanda business in Taiwan, industry experts said. Grab on Monday last week announced it would acquire Foodpanda’s Taiwan operations for US$600 million. The deal is expected to be finalized in the second half of this year, with Grab aiming to complete user migration to its platform by the first half of next year. A duopoly between Uber Eats and Foodpanda dominates Taiwan’s delivery market, a structure that has remained intact since the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) blocked Uber Technologies Inc’s
RSS