More Taiwanese are interested in buying property this quarter, as earlier expectations of price corrections caused by the COVID-19 pandemic failed to materialize, a survey by Chinatrust Real Estate Co (中信房屋) showed.
Nearly 30 percent of respondents are expecting price increases this quarter, compared with 17 percent who hold an opposite view, the Taipei-based real-estate agent said, adding that the majority, 54 percent, expect prices to hold steady.
Expectations of lower prices have subsided after the property market emerged from the height of the pandemic in March and April unscathed, it said.
The pandemic postponed plans to buy property rather than canceling them, it added.
While 20.4 percent of respondents canceled plans to search for prospective purchases for fear of infection, 34.2 percent continued their search and carried out transactions as normal, the survey showed.
Taiwan has reported 455 COVID-19 cases, including seven deaths.
The survey showed that 22 percent of respondents had observed price declines last quarter, while 15 percent said they observed increases.
The absence of price retreats last quarter gave prospective buyers more confidence to rejoin the market this quarter, while the prospect of bargain-hunting faded, Chinatrust Real Estate said.
The improvement in sentiment helped explain why property transactions had gained traction last month when compared with May, it said.
Buying interest has gathered momentum even though 42.6 percent of respondents expected the local economy to slow quarter-on-quarter in the third quarter, the company said, adding that nearly 37 percent expected a stronger third quarter, while 20.6 percent expected growth to be flat.
Economists have forecast that the worst is likely over and the local economy would improve each quarter for the rest of the year.
Taiwan’s foreign exchange reserves fell below the US$600 billion mark at the end of last month, with the central bank reporting a total of US$596.89 billion — a decline of US$8.6 billion from February — ending a three-month streak of increases. The central bank attributed the drop to a combination of factors such as outflows by foreign institutional investors, currency fluctuations and its own market interventions. “The large-scale outflows disrupted the balance of supply and demand in the foreign exchange market, prompting the central bank to intervene repeatedly by selling US dollars to stabilize the local currency,” Department of Foreign
ENERGY ISSUES: The TSIA urged the government to increase natural gas and helium reserves to reduce the impact of the Middle East war on semiconductor supply stability Chip testing and packaging service provider ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控) yesterday said it planned to invest more than NT$100 billion (US$3.15 billion) in building a new advanced chip testing facility in Kaohsiung to keep up with customer demand driven by the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. That would be included in the company’s capital expenditure budget next year, ASE said. There is also room to raise this year’s capital spending budget from a record-high US$7 billion estimated three months ago, it added. ASE would have six factories under construction this year, another record-breaking number, ASE chief operating officer Tien Wu
The EU and US are nearing an agreement to coordinate on producing and securing critical minerals, part of a push to break reliance on Chinese supplies. The potential deal would create incentives, such as minimum prices, that could advantage non-Chinese suppliers, according to a draft of an “action plan” seen by Bloomberg. The EU and US would also cooperate on standards, investments and joint projects, as well as coordinate on any supply disruptions by countries like China. The two sides are additionally seeking other “like-minded partners” to join a multicountry accord to help create these new critical mineral supply chains, which feed into
For weeks now, the global tech industry has been waiting for a major artificial intelligence (AI) launch from DeepSeek (深度求索), seen as a benchmark for China’s progress in the fast-moving field. More than a year has passed since the start-up put Chinese AI on the map in early last year with a low-cost chatbot that performed at a similar level to US rivals. However, despite reports and rumors about its imminent release, DeepSeek’s next-generation “V4” model is nowhere in sight. Speculation is also swirling over the geopolitical implications of which computer chips were chosen to train and power the new
RSS