Housing transactions last year hit a seven-year high, as the market recovered steadily from the introduction of a property gains tax in 2016, government data showed on Tuesday.
Data released by the Ministry of the Interior showed housing transactions recovering from a low of 245,396 units in 2016 to 326,589 units last year.
The recovery had been gradual, but resilient, despite the COVID-19 pandemic last year and renewed credit controls imposed by the central bank early last month, Sinyi Realty Inc (信義房屋) said in a news release.
Photo: Cheng I-hwa, Bloomberg
Transactions last month rose to a 60-month high of 35,000 units, reflecting a hot market in November, as it takes about a month to process related paperwork, Sinyi research manager Tseng Ching-der (曾進德) said.
The central bank reiterated that the latest credit controls would not affect people seeking to buy their first home, but it remains to be seen how the market adapts to the tightening, analysts said.
The latest government data also showed that the number of inherited properties rose 2.5 percent year-on-year to 59,109 units last year, the highest on record, while the number of gifted houses edged down 0.4 percent to 43,759 units, the first decline since 2016.
Outstanding mortgages last month increased 8.5 percent from a year earlier to NT$8.04 trillion (US$283.3 billion), central bank data showed on Tuesday.
The pace of increase was the fastest in 14 years, the bank said, attributing it to the high sales season ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday next month.
Outstanding loans for construction and land financing soared 17.52 percent year-on-year to NT$2.46 trillion last month, the fastest increase since September 2011, the bank’s data showed.
Seasonality aside, the government’s encouragement of urban renewal projects contributed to the pickup, as credit controls do not apply to urban renewal projects, the bank said.
Tseng said that given the time lag, this month’s mortgage and property transaction data would be a better indication of the effects of credit controls.
SEEKING CLARITY: Washington should not adopt measures that create uncertainties for ‘existing semiconductor investments,’ TSMC said referring to its US$165 billion in the US Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) told the US that any future tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors could reduce demand for chips and derail its pledge to increase its investment in Arizona. “New import restrictions could jeopardize current US leadership in the competitive technology industry and create uncertainties for many committed semiconductor capital projects in the US, including TSMC Arizona’s significant investment plan in Phoenix,” the chipmaker wrote in a letter to the US Department of Commerce. TSMC issued the warning in response to a solicitation for comments by the department on a possible tariff on semiconductor imports by US President Donald Trump’s
The government has launched a three-pronged strategy to attract local and international talent, aiming to position Taiwan as a new global hub following Nvidia Corp’s announcement that it has chosen Taipei as the site of its Taiwan headquarters. Nvidia cofounder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday last week announced during his keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taipei that the Nvidia Constellation, the company’s planned Taiwan headquarters, would be located in the Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei. Huang’s decision to establish a base in Taiwan is “primarily due to Taiwan’s talent pool and its strength in the semiconductor
An earnings report from semiconductor giant and artificial intelligence (AI) bellwether Nvidia Corp takes center stage for Wall Street this week, as stocks hit a speed bump of worries over US federal deficits driving up Treasury yields. US equities pulled back last week after a torrid rally, as investors turned their attention to tax and spending legislation poised to swell the US government’s US$36 trillion in debt. Long-dated US Treasury yields rose amid the fiscal worries, with the 30-year yield topping 5 percent and hitting its highest level since late 2023. Stocks were dealt another blow on Friday when US President Donald
UNCERTAINTY: Investors remain worried that trade negotiations with Washington could go poorly, given Trump’s inconsistency on tariffs in his second term, experts said The consumer confidence index this month fell for a ninth consecutive month to its lowest level in 13 months, as global trade uncertainties and tariff risks cloud Taiwan’s economic outlook, a survey released yesterday by National Central University found. The biggest decline came from the timing for stock investments, which plunged 11.82 points to 26.82, underscoring bleak investor confidence, it said. “Although the TAIEX reclaimed the 21,000-point mark after the US and China agreed to bury the hatchet for 90 days, investors remain worried that the situation would turn sour later,” said Dachrahn Wu (吳大任), director of the university’s Research Center for
RSS