Sinyi Realty Inc yesterday forecast (信義房屋) that its profitability would improve this quarter, as the local property market would likely continue to benefit from ample liquidity and record-low interest rates.
Sinyi Realty, Taiwan’s only listed broker, gave the positive outlook during an online conference call, where it reported that net income grew more than threefold year-on-year to NT$557 million (US$19.3 million) last quarter, or earnings per share of NT$0.76.
The performance came even though the July-to-September quarter is traditionally a slow season due to Ghost Month, which falls on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month, and as earnings from its property development arm diminished, it said.
Taiwan’s stable economy and quick control of the COVID-19 pandemic spared the local market of a contraction seen in other countries, Sinyi said, adding that abundant liquidity and ultra-low interest rates motivated people to own real-estate properties.
The pace of sales for both presale and existing housing accelerated in the third quarter and the momentum might continue in this quarter, the peak season for the property market, and extend into next year, Sinyi said.
The central bank is unlikely to raise interest rates anytime soon with virus infections spiking in the US and Europe, it said.
The bank cut the rediscount rate to a record low 1.125 percent in March to ward off a cash crunch and ease the burden on households, in line with actions by global peers, as it might take a while for people to be vaccinated after drug companies create successful and affordable COVID-19 vaccines.
While property brokerage underpinned Sinyi’s earnings last quarter, the agency wing generated 40 percent of the overall profits, the company said.
Sinyi yesterday held a groundbreaking ceremony for its presale mixed-use complex in New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋).
The complex features 24 floors above ground and six basement levels, Sinyi said, adding that it would have retail space on the first through fourth floors and apartments of 37 ping to 55 ping (122.3m2 to 181.82m2) on the sixth through 24th floors.
The fifth floor would be reserved for public spaces, it said.
The project is already 30 percent sold since its launch during the autumn sale season, starting on Sept. 28, Sinyi said.
The presale campaign for another complex nearby ended after achieving a sale rate of 85 percent in September, the company said.
Sinyi said it plans to sell the remaining units after completing construction on the project.
SEMICONDUCTOR SERVICES: A company executive said that Taiwanese firms must think about how to participate in global supply chains and lift their competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said it expects to launch its first multifunctional service center in Pingtung County in the middle of 2027, in a bid to foster a resilient high-tech facility construction ecosystem. TSMC broached the idea of creating a center two or three years ago when it started building new manufacturing capacity in the US and Japan, the company said. The center, dubbed an “ecosystem park,” would assist local manufacturing facility construction partners to upgrade their capabilities and secure more deals from other global chipmakers such as Intel Corp, Micron Technology Inc and Infineon Technologies AG, TSMC said. It
NO BREAKTHROUGH? More substantial ‘deliverables,’ such as tariff reductions, would likely be saved for a meeting between Trump and Xi later this year, a trade expert said China launched two probes targeting the US semiconductor sector on Saturday ahead of talks between the two nations in Spain this week on trade, national security and the ownership of social media platform TikTok. China’s Ministry of Commerce announced an anti-dumping investigation into certain analog integrated circuits (ICs) imported from the US. The investigation is to target some commodity interface ICs and gate driver ICs, which are commonly made by US companies such as Texas Instruments Inc and ON Semiconductor Corp. The ministry also announced an anti-discrimination probe into US measures against China’s chip sector. US measures such as export curbs and tariffs
The US on Friday penalized two Chinese firms that acquired US chipmaking equipment for China’s top chipmaker, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯國際), including them among 32 entities that were added to the US Department of Commerce’s restricted trade list, a US government posting showed. Twenty-three of the 32 are in China. GMC Semiconductor Technology (Wuxi) Co (吉姆西半導體科技) and Jicun Semiconductor Technology (Shanghai) Co (吉存半導體科技) were placed on the list, formally known as the Entity List, for acquiring equipment for SMIC Northern Integrated Circuit Manufacturing (Beijing) Corp (中芯北方積體電路) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International (Beijing) Corp (中芯北京), the US Federal Register posting said. The
India’s ban of online money-based games could drive addicts to unregulated apps and offshore platforms that pose new financial and social risks, fantasy-sports gaming experts say. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government banned real-money online games late last month, citing financial losses and addiction, leading to a shutdown of many apps offering paid fantasy cricket, rummy and poker games. “Many will move to offshore platforms, because of the addictive nature — they will find alternate means to get that dopamine hit,” said Viren Hemrajani, a Mumbai-based fantasy cricket analyst. “It [also] leads to fraud and scams, because everything is now