More than 60 percent of Taiwanese expect housing prices to climb this quarter, a sharp increase from three months earlier, as concerns about COVID-19 infections drastically subside, a survey by Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房屋) found last week.
The rapid increase in the vaccination rate also supported respondents’ confidence in a recovery, said the Taipei-based broker, the largest in Taiwan by number of offices.
Sixty-three percent of respondents were expecting housing prices to increase, up from 42 percent in the second quarter, during which authorities raised the COVID-19 alert to level 3, thereby reducing buying interest for the next few months, Evertrust’s quarterly survey said.
Photo: Hsu Yi-ping, Taipei Times
The government has since late July eased disease prevention measures, it said, adding that people have by and large resumed house hunting.
Nearly 30 percent of respondents said it would be wise to join the market in the second half of this year, while 24 percent said it would be better to take action in the first half of next year.
That suggests that more than 50 percent of people think they should take advantage of the record-low interest rate and sufficient liquidity caused by a stable economy, Evertrust said.
Housing prices increased more than 10 percent in many parts of Taiwan over the past year, although they grew only 5 percent in Taipei and New Taipei City, Evertrust general manager Yeh Ling-chi (葉凌棋) said.
Prices increased by more than 20 percent in Tainan and Hsinchu City, where major technology firms have added to capacity and created well-paid jobs, Yeh said.
The trend has prompted the central bank to ban grace periods for purchases of second homes by individuals in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Hsinchu City, Hsinchu County, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung to cool the local property market.
CAUTIOUS RECOVERY: While the manufacturing sector returned to growth amid the US-China trade truce, firms remain wary as uncertainty clouds the outlook, the CIER said The local manufacturing sector returned to expansion last month, as the official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose 2.1 points to 51.0, driven by a temporary easing in US-China trade tensions, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The PMI gauges the health of the manufacturing industry, with readings above 50 indicating expansion and those below 50 signaling contraction. “Firms are not as pessimistic as they were in April, but they remain far from optimistic,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said at a news conference. The full impact of US tariff decisions is unlikely to become clear until later this month
GROWING CONCERN: Some senior Trump administration officials opposed the UAE expansion over fears that another TSMC project could jeopardize its US investment Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is evaluating building an advanced production facility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and has discussed the possibility with officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration, people familiar with the matter said, in a potentially major bet on the Middle East that would only come to fruition with Washington’s approval. The company has had multiple meetings in the past few months with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and officials from MGX, an influential investment vehicle overseen by the UAE president’s brother, the people said. The conversations are a continuation of talks that
CHIP DUTIES: TSMC said it voiced its concerns to Washington about tariffs, telling the US commerce department that it wants ‘fair treatment’ to protect its competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reiterated robust business prospects for this year as strong artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand from Nvidia Corp and other customers would absorb the impacts of US tariffs. “The impact of tariffs would be indirect, as the custom tax is the importers’ responsibility, not the exporters,” TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said at the chipmaker’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Hsinchu City. TSMC’s business could be affected if people become reluctant to buy electronics due to inflated prices, Wei said. In addition, the chipmaker has voiced its concern to the US Department of Commerce
STILL LOADED: Last year’s richest person, Quanta Computer Inc chairman Barry Lam, dropped to second place despite an 8 percent increase in his wealth to US$12.6 billion Staff writer, with CNA Daniel Tsai (蔡明忠) and Richard Tsai (蔡明興), the brothers who run Fubon Group (富邦集團), topped the Forbes list of Taiwan’s 50 richest people this year, released on Wednesday in New York. The magazine said that a stronger New Taiwan dollar pushed the combined wealth of Taiwan’s 50 richest people up 13 percent, from US$174 billion to US$197 billion, with 36 of the people on the list seeing their wealth increase. That came as Taiwan’s economy grew 4.6 percent last year, its fastest pace in three years, driven by the strong performance of the semiconductor industry, the magazine said. The Tsai
RSS