The housing price index rose 1.2 percent quarterly and 3.87 percent annually to 108.17 in the fourth quarter of last year, a report released yesterday by the Ministry of the Interior showed.
Housing prices have increased quarterly for nine consecutive quarters and risen annually for 10 quarters in a row, the ministry’s data showed.
As housing prices have increased nationwide for three straight quarters, the central bank tightened lending terms in December last year and last month.
Photo: CNA
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance is pushing property tax revisions that would define “short-term” transactions as anything under five years, up from two years.
Under the revisions, transfers of presale projects and equities would be taxed at the same rates as properties.
Tainan reported the steepest increase in housing prices at 7.44 percent from a year earlier and 2.39 percent from a quarter earlier, the ministry said.
Property funding has flowed to Tainan in the past few years after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), the sole chip supplier of Apple Inc’s iPhone, made known its plans to build foundries for its newest products there.
Housing prices in Taichung increased 5.61 percent annually and 1.4 percent quarterly, the second-steepest increase in the nation, ministry data showed.
Taoyuan placed third with an annual housing price increase of 4.58 percent, followed by Kaohsiung’s 3.15 percent rise, Taipei’s 2.83 percent gain, and New Taipei City’s 2.57 percent increase, the data showed.
The ministry said that GDP growth, which hit 5.09 percent in the fourth quarter, contributed to housing price increases, while low interest rates for mortgages, which averaged 1.36 percent among the five major state-run lenders, also lent support.
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) today announced that his company has selected "Beitou Shilin" in Taipei for its new Taiwan office, called Nvidia Constellation, putting an end to months of speculation. Industry sources have said that the tech giant has been eyeing the Beitou Shilin Science Park as the site of its new overseas headquarters, and speculated that the new headquarters would be built on two plots of land designated as "T17" and "T18," which span 3.89 hectares in the park. "I think it's time for us to reveal one of the largest products we've ever built," Huang said near the
China yesterday announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9 percent on imports of polyoxymethylene (POM) copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from Taiwan, the US, the EU and Japan. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s findings conclude a probe launched in May last year, shortly after the US sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports. POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc, and have various applications, including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, the Chinese ministry has said. In January, it said initial investigations had determined that dumping was taking place, and implemented preliminary
Intel Corp yesterday reinforced its determination to strengthen its partnerships with Taiwan’s ecosystem partners including original-electronic-manufacturing (OEM) companies such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電). “Tonight marks a new beginning. We renew our new partnership with Taiwan ecosystem,” Intel new chief executive officer Tan Lip-bu (陳立武) said at a dinner with representatives from the company’s local partners, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the US chip giant’s presence in Taiwan. Tan took the reins at Intel six weeks ago aiming to reform the chipmaker and revive its past glory. This is the first time Tan
CUSTOMERS’ BURDEN: TSMC already has operations in the US and is a foundry, so any tariff increase would mostly affect US customers, not the company, the minister said Taiwanese manufacturers are “not afraid” of US tariffs, but are concerned about being affected more heavily than regional economic competitors Japan and South Korea, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said. “Taiwan has many advantages that other countries do not have, the most notable of which is its semiconductor ecosystem,” Kuo said. The US “must rely on Taiwan” to boost its microchip manufacturing capacities, Kuo said in an interview ahead of his one-year anniversary in office tomorrow. Taiwan has submitted a position paper under Section 232 of the US Trade Expansion Act to explain the “complementary relationship” between Taiwan and the US