The number of presale and new housing units on the market declined last quarter from the previous quarter, but selling prices continued to climb, defying policy measures to reverse the trend, a survey by Cathay Real Estate Development Co (國泰建設) showed yesterday.
The number of presale and new housing projects fell 22 percent from the fourth quarter of last year to 230 projects, while the overall number of housing units on the market fell 7.6 percent to 21,812, the quarterly survey showed.
The Taipei-based developer attributed the retreat to tightening measures by government agencies to rein in the property market.
Photo: Hsu Yi-ping, Taipei Times
The central bank cut its loan-to-value ratios twice in the first quarter to 40 percent for corporate buyers and people who own four homes to make the market less attractive for speculative buyers, while the Ministry of Finance raised capital gains taxes to between 35 and 45 percent on properties resold within five years of purchase.
The finance ministry is also to levy punitive taxes on contract transfers for presale projects from July 1.
The housing market appeared to have cooled down in Taoyuan, Hsinchu City, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung, judging by the supply, Cathay Real Estate said.
However, selling prices picked up as developers sought to pass rising raw material and labor costs to buyers, the analyst said, adding that it is too early to assess the impact of policies.
Housing prices averaged NT$308,100 per ping (3.3m2) nationwide, gaining 2.01 percent from three months earlier, while 30-day sales rates shed 2.41 percentage points to 11.71 percent, it said. Meanwhile, the room for price concessions widened by 0.79 percentage points to 13.45 percent, it added.
That meant the supply side grew more flexible in pricing to facilitate transactions, as lawmakers consider imposing hoarding taxes on multiple-home owners and the Ministry of the Interior plans revisions to public space requirement in residential complexes.
Taichung reported the steepest price hike of 3.62 percent to NT$266,400 per ping last quarter, as the city benefitted from the inauguration of its mass rapid transit system, the survey showed.
Hsinchu posted the second-steepest raise of 3.29 percent to NT$257,200 per ping, it showed
Prices in Taipei increased 2.78 percent to NT$889,800 per ping and those in New Taipei City advanced 0.51 percent to NT$402,400 per ping, while prices gained 0.68 percent to NT$269,000 per ping in Taoyuan, the survey showed.
Prices in Tainan rose 0.55 percent to NT$236,600 per ping, while prices in Kaohsiung increased 0.46 percent to NT$240,700 per ping, it showed.
Taiwan’s foreign exchange reserves hit a record high at the end of last month, surpassing the US$600 billion mark for the first time, the central bank said yesterday. Last month, the country’s foreign exchange reserves rose US$5.51 billion from a month earlier to reach US$602.94 billion due to an increase in returns from the central bank’s portfolio management, the movement of other foreign currencies in the portfolio against the US dollar and the bank’s efforts to smooth the volatility of the New Taiwan dollar. Department of Foreign Exchange Director-General Eugene Tsai (蔡炯民)said a rate cut cycle launched by the US Federal Reserve
The US government on Wednesday sanctioned more than two dozen companies in China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, including offshoots of a US chip firm, accusing the businesses of providing illicit support to Iran’s military or proxies. The US Department of Commerce included two subsidiaries of US-based chip distributor Arrow Electronics Inc (艾睿電子) on its so-called entity list published on the federal register for facilitating purchases by Iran’s proxies of US tech. Arrow spokesman John Hourigan said that the subsidiaries have been operating in full compliance with US export control regulations and his company is discussing with the US Bureau of
Businesses across the global semiconductor supply chain are bracing themselves for disruptions from an escalating trade war, after China imposed curbs on rare earth mineral exports and the US responded with additional tariffs and restrictions on software sales to the Asian nation. China’s restrictions, the most targeted move yet to limit supplies of rare earth materials, represent the first major attempt by Beijing to exercise long-arm jurisdiction over foreign companies to target the semiconductor industry, threatening to stall the chips powering the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. They prompted US President Donald Trump on Friday to announce that he would impose an additional
Pegatron Corp (和碩), a key assembler of Apple Inc’s iPhones, on Thursday reported a 12.3 percent year-on-year decline in revenue for last quarter to NT$257.86 billion (US$8.44 billion), but it expects revenue to improve in the second half on traditional holiday demand. The fourth quarter is usually the peak season for its communications products, a company official said on condition of anonymity. As Apple released its new iPhone 17 series early last month, sales in the communications segment rose sequentially last month, the official said. Shipments to Apple have been stable and in line with earlier expectations, they said. Pegatron shipped 2.4 million notebook
RSS