Presale and new housing projects last quarter surged 38.1 percent from three months earlier nationwide, as the market emerged from a local COVID-19 outbreak, aided by excess liquidity and low interest rates, a survey by Cathay Real Estate Development Co (國泰建設) showed on Wednesday.
Developers and builders launched NT$339.2 billion (US$12.19 billion) of presale and newly completed houses on the market in the July-to-September quarter, the survey found.
The recovery in confidence was particularly evident in Kaohsiung, where presale projects and new houses grew 90.6 percent, followed by 83.5 percent in Taichung, 69.5 percent in New Taipei City and 57.2 percent in Taipei, it said.
Photo: Hsu Yi-ping, Taipei Times
However, presale and new housing projects declined 18.8 percent in Taoyuan, fell 46.4 percent in Hsinchu and plunged 37.6 percent in Tainan mainly due to high comparison bases, it said.
The sustained uptrend in house and land loans prompted the central bank last month to ban grace periods for second-home mortgages in the six special municipalities, as well as Hsinchu city and county, but unfavorable lending terms have failed to rein in real-estate lending so far, government data showed.
Potential closing home prices averaged NT$319,600 per ping (3.3m2) across the nation, climbing 4.05 percent from three months earlier, the survey showed.
The figures in Taipei rose 3.16 percent to NT$938,000 per ping, and edged up 1.1 percent in New Taipei City to NT$409,400 per ping.
Kaohsiung posted the biggest advance of 6.97 percent to NT$260,000 per ping, followed by Taichung with a 5.87 percent increase, but Taoyuan bucked the trend, declining 0.72 percent to NT$270,200 per ping, the survey showed.
Price concession rates shrank 3.28 percentage points to 10.17 percent in the third quarter, while the 30-day sales rate gained 5.05 percentage points to 16.5 percent, it said.
The market could receive continued support from ample liquidity and low borrowing costs, but the central bank could weigh in to prevent overheating, it said.
US PROBE: The Information reported that the US Department of Commerce is investigating whether the firm made advanced chips for China’s Huawei Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract maker of advanced chips, yesterday said it is a law-abiding company, and is committed to complying with all applicable laws and regulations including export controls. The Hsinchu-based chip giant issued the statement after US news Web site The Information ran a story saying that the US Department of Commerce has launched a probe into TSMC over whether it breached export rules by making smartphone or artificial intelligence (AI) chips for China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為). “We maintain a robust and comprehensive export system for monitoring and ensuring compliance,” the statement said. “If we
DEMAND FOR AI CHIPS: Net income in the third quarter surged 31.2% quarter-on-quarter to NT$325.26 billion, the strongest quarterly return in the company’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, yesterday raised its revenue forecast to annual growth of 30 percent this year, thanks to strong and sustainable demand for artificial intelligence (AI) processors for servers. It was the second upward adjustment from 25 percent year-on-year growth estimated three months ago, despite recent concerns about whether the AI boom could be another technology bubble. “The demand is real. It’s real. And I believe it is just the beginning of this demand. Alright, so one of my key customers said the demand right now is ‘insane,’” TSMC chairman and chief executive C.C.
Starbucks Corp might have the more recognizable name, but 7-Eleven’s City Cafe remains the king of Taiwan’s fresh coffee market, helped by the convenience store chain’s extensive market presence and product diversification. President Chain Store Corp (PCSC, 統一超商), which runs both the 7-Eleven and Starbucks store chains in Taiwan, established the City Cafe brand in 2004. The brand took off when actress Gwei Lun-mei (桂綸鎂) became its spokesperson in 2007. City Cafe’s sales exceeded NT$10 billion (US$311.69 million) for the first time in 2015, surpassing the revenue of Starbucks Taiwan, and rose to more than NT$17 billion last year, exceeding the NT$14.98
COUNTRY-BASED: Setting ceilings on sales of the technology would tighten limits that originally targeted China’s ambitions in artificial intelligence amid security risks US officials have discussed capping sales of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chips from Nvidia Corp and other American companies on a country-specific basis, people familiar with the matter said, a move that would limit some nations’ AI capabilities. The new approach would set a ceiling on export licenses for some countries in the interest of national security, according to the people, who described the private discussions on condition of anonymity. Officials in the administration of US President Joe Biden focused on Persian Gulf countries that have a growing appetite for AI data centers and the deep pockets to fund them, the people