Total mortgages offered by the nation’s banks continued to grow in July, albeit at a slower pace following amendments to the Income Tax Act (所得稅法), which took effect on July 1, data compiled by the Financial Supervisory Commission showed last week.
The revised “integrated house and land transaction income tax” is 45 percent on gains from the sale of property within two years of purchase, and 35 percent on sales made within two to five years of purchase.
The new tax rates apply to individuals and institutions.
Previously, the tax rate was 35 percent for sales made within one to two years of purchase and 20 percent for transactions made at least two years after purchase. Those only applied to individuals.
While some analysts had expected the new tax scheme to cool the nation’s overheated property market, overall mortgages offered by local banks still rose by NT$43.2 billion (US$1.56 billion) to NT$8.41 trillion as of the end of July, commission data showed.
However, the pace of growth fell 46 percent from June’s NT$80.7 billion.
It was also the second-lowest monthly increase after NT$26 billion in February, the data showed.
“Some investors rushed to close their deals in June so that they could avoid higher tax rates,” a commission official said last week. “As a result, there were fewer transactions in July and fewer newly offered mortgages.”
Similarly, construction loans, an indicator of real-estate developers’ confidence in the sector, registered a monthly increase of NT$35.1 billion from a month earlier to NT$2.99 trillion at the end of July — down 21 percent from an increase of NT$44.6 billion in June, the data showed.
The ratio of non-performing house loans to all house loans remained flat at 0.11 percent in July and the ratio of non-performing construction loans dipped one basis point to 0.12 percent, the data showed.
The Banking Act (銀行法) stipulates that a bank’s outstanding mortgage and construction loans combined cannot exceed 30 percent of its deposits and financial debentures.
In July, seven local banks saw their ratios surpass 28 percent and one bank reported that its ratio exceeded 29 percent, prompting a warning from the commission, the official said.
Merida Industry Co (美利達) has seen signs of recovery in the US and European markets this year, as customers are gradually depleting their inventories, the bicycle maker told shareholders yesterday. Given robust growth in new orders at its Taiwanese factory, coupled with its subsidiaries’ improving performance, Merida said it remains confident about the bicycle market’s prospects and expects steady growth in its core business this year. CAUTION ON CHINA However, the company must handle the Chinese market with great caution, as sales of road bikes there have declined significantly, affecting its revenue and profitability, Merida said in a statement, adding that it would
MARKET LEADERSHIP: Investors are flocking to Nvidia, drawn by the company’s long-term fundamntals, dominant position in the AI sector, and pricing and margin power Two years after Nvidia Corp made history by becoming the first chipmaker to achieve a US$1 trillion market capitalization, an even more remarkable milestone is within its grasp: becoming the first company to reach US$4 trillion. After the emergence of China’s DeepSeek (深度求索) sent the stock plunging earlier this year and stoked concerns that outlays on artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure were set to slow, Nvidia shares have rallied back to a record. The company’s biggest customers remain full steam ahead on spending, much of which is flowing to its computing systems. Microsoft Corp, Meta Platforms Inc, Amazon.com Inc and Alphabet Inc are
RISING: Strong exports, and life insurance companies’ efforts to manage currency risks indicates the NT dollar would eventually pass the 29 level, an expert said The New Taiwan dollar yesterday rallied to its strongest in three years amid inflows to the nation’s stock market and broad-based weakness in the US dollar. Exporter sales of the US currency and a repatriation of funds from local asset managers also played a role, said two traders, who asked not to be identified as they were not authorized to speak publicly. State-owned banks were seen buying the greenback yesterday, but only at a moderate scale, the traders said. The local currency gained 0.77 percent, outperforming almost all of its Asian peers, to close at NT$29.165 per US dollar in Taipei trading yesterday. The
The US overtaking China as Taiwan’s top export destination could boost industrial development and wage growth, given the US is a high-income economy, an economist said yesterday. However, Taiwan still needs to diversify its export markets due to the unpredictability of US President Donald Trump’s administration, said Chiou Jiunn-rong (邱俊榮), an economics professor at National Central University. Taiwan’s exports soared to a record US$51.74 billion last month, driven by strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) products and continued orders, with information and communication technology (ICT) and audio/video products leading all sectors. The US reclaimed its position as Taiwan’s top export market, accounting for